My Little Brony: We Appreciate Your… Enthusiasm

No, really. I’m sure the makers of the show are very excited at the massive fanbase My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has generated. And a huge amount of that fanbase are “bronies,” men who hang out on Youtube commenting on every Pony video [I won’t link them here, because you can easily find them.]

And that’s fine! It’s fine! A lot of the language around the show has gotten very masculine — talking about being a “man” if you watch the show, calling the ponies “badass” [an adjective arguably associated with masculinity], calling each other “brony.”

And again, that’s fine!

But… Lauren Faust made this show for teh womens [Lauren Faust on Television for Young Girls; she’s also quite smart My Little NON-Homophobic, NON-Racist, NON-Smart-Shaming Pony: A Rebuttal]. Lauren Faust created the show in an effort to give young girls positive role models, and show that things that are traditionally associated with women [fashion, pink, and baking] aren’t necessarily crap — to put it into terms the internet likes, things traditionally associated with ladies can be “badass” while still being associated with ladies. You do not have to make them associated with male characteristics [seriously] in order to make them “badass,” AND they do not have to be associated with women, either, obviously.

That’s one of the kinds of things feminism tries to fight, anyway.

My point here is that the language around this show is starting to get a little… exclusive. As though to say, “Hey, ladies, this is, like, duder territory now. Butt the fuck out because you’re making us look girly.” I mean, don’t get me wrong: IRL, I watch this show with ONLY BOYS [my best friend’s favorite is Rainbow Dash.]

Someone also decided shes a lesbian.

But that doesn’t mean that ONLY BOYS watch the show. And because WOMEN watch the show, some of teh menz might feel threatened.

Stop it.

Just… stop that now, and hear me out: just because ladies like it, doesn’t make you less manly. Liking something intended for a women doesn’t make you a woman, it doesn’t make you gay [which isn’t even a bad thing, isn’t even necessarily a feminine thing, and FEMININE THINGS ARE NOT BAD, AND ARE NOT JUST ASSOCIATED WITH LADIES FOR FUCK’S SAKE. This isn’t the 90’s people]; liking something intended for women, that women watch, just makes you someone who identifies as male, who likes something intended for women. It’s like my female friend being a gigantic fan of M.A.S.H.: that’s a show that’s OBVIOUSLY targeted at men, starring men, in what was, at the time, a male-dominated field. Liking M.A.S.H. didn’t make my female friend a lesbian, didn’t make her masculine — well, if you want to follow traditional gender lines, then yes, it did.

And you don’t have to watch My Little Pony ironically — that’s just… it’s silly. Just enjoy the show! And stop, like, shoving women away from you going, “NOO, YOU’RE GETTING YOUR VAGINA IN MY PONIES!” Because, guess what, women are on the internet, they watch this show… there might even be one in the room with you… RIGHT NOW.

And she might be thinking about ponies.

Dream on brony, keep watching the show, keep loving it, just remember: you’re watching a feminist show, and loving it… maybe it’s time to rethink your attitudes about feminism and women… and… pink, or something.