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.

I have got to stop…

… reading comments to posts I’m interested in. I’m serious. I know that the world (and especially the internet, due to its anonymity) is full of people willing to say hurtful, bigoted things just because they can, but I get so enraged reading it. The article and subsequent comments that spawned this post is from [I seem to be going here a lot lately] Kotaku, and is an interview with Casey Hudson a “project lead” on Mass Effect 2 [it’s a popular game!] The article, The Thoughts Behind Miranda’s Behind in Mass Effect 2, is a follow-up to the article about homosexuality. And the comments… well, here; this is an insightful and self-proclaimed semi-feminist comment from one reader, in which she includes the comments from other readers that she is referring to [in italics]:

“Some of the comments here have certainly made me question my opinion of the Kotaku readership – I feel for those men who are embarrassed and ashamed by the actions of their fellow men. Seems that simply asking questions and sharing an opinion from the unique female perspective on games is offensive enough to warrant insult and ridicule.

For the record, most of you here sound like misogynistic bastards; completely closed off to the idea that women do not experience games (or sexual attraction for that matter) the same way you do from your convenient position of being the major demographic – the ‘catered to’ audience. Women have to slip into your world and find a comfortable position within it all – and sometimes stuff like this just doesn’t sit right – yet by all accounts we’re not allowed to voice that discomfort?

Are we not allowed to validly question developers? Are we are not allowed to see sex differently? Are we all in a time warp and back in the 19-fucking-50’s?

Here’s a choice selection of the bile being spewed by people here. I think it deserves to be highlighted.

“As a side note…speaking as a male, guess what? I look at hot womens’ asses. All the time. If the author was hot, and had a great ass, and she was in my vicinity…I would look at it. That’s just how it works, sorry if you hate men but unless a man is gay, chances are real good he enjoys looking at hot women’s asses.”

“Every single Kotaku article written by a woman, that I’ve read, has been worthless, insipid garbage. This feminist whinefest, and the one before it, is no different … Yeah, it’s true: men like attractive women in tight outfits. Get over it. Or buy yourself some cats.

“if you don’t like miranda’s fake, yet awsome ass, go fucking play Mario. Cunt.”

“Hahahahah! This chick just had her period all over this page and titled it “The thoughts about Miranda’s behind” You don’t get your dick and manass shots because they are trying to appeal to the MASSES with that. If you want to appeal to the MASSES and the MASSES just so happen to be male.”

“No offence Tracy, but you sound like a bit of a Prude … Outside of a few prudish people (many woman I know would have liked that shot, nevermind be bothered enough by it to actually confront the game designer about it in a minorly hostile and judgmental way).”

“Oh, please. Mass Effect seeks to demean all women. Get over yourself.”

“Honestly, all i see in this article is the author putting Hudson on the spot by whining and demanding answers to a completely irrelevant and harmless aspect of the game. It’s ridiculous that this is even an issue.”

“This is exactly why the author isn’t a successful video game developer.”

“This post is nothing but drivel written by someone trying to make a big deal out of nothing.”

“psstt…stfu.”

I am not a feminist particularly, but I too found Mass Effect 2 to be annoyingly sexualised. It detracted from the story, and no, “she was genetically engineered to be that way” doesn’t really excuse zoom in shots of her arse. I was also put off by Jack and Samara for similar reason; lest not forget the succubus daughter.

From Mass Effect 1 – which was an exemplar games where a strong female lead doesn’t have to be about sexual objectification – to Mass Effect 2, where almost every female character has their tits and arse accentuated for ‘fan service’ purposes; it was a step backwards, and Tracey has every right to discuss it, question it and share her opinion of it.

All you sexists who automatically disqualify her opinion because she is female need to wake up to what century you’re living in and perhaps learn that women do not view the world exactly as men do.”

I wanted to scream. Someone writes an interesting article with a well-made, and brief, point, and what happens? Some of the boys feel their fantasy is threatened by the intellectual commentary. Heaven forbid people have a serious discussion about video games–something that a lot of the gamers I’ve met, really, want people to do, so that we’ll all be taken seriously as worshipers of a new art form. And heaven forbid that discussion includes the idea, nay, the fact, that most video games cater to the male perspective.

Here’s a take-home message: It insults your intelligence, guys, that game designers assume that you can easily be drawn into a game from gratuitous ass shots, and tits hanging out everywhere. Why? Because the game designers know that they can be lazy in storyline [which ME2 was] and in character depth [which both ME2 and ME1 were, deceptively–a flaw here or there does not a complex person make [and one dialogue with Joker (in ME1) does not satisfy the Seth Green fans ;_;]. They can make you pay $60 to see an ass you could find for free on the internet, and they’re not giving you a much better story than the porno Pirates.

Okay, so the storyline is better than Pirates, but that’s not the point. The point is, if you stop acting like misogynistic, wiener-brained, dumb-struck “We’ve-never-seen-a-nice-ass-before”-boys, the game designers will have to pick up the slack they made. They will have to start making more creative, and innovative games that appeal to your [and women’s] intelligence, not just our genitals. Like Psychonauts. Remember Psychonauts?

Mass Effect 2: Effectively… Disappointing [MASS EFFECT 2 SPOILERS WARNING]

Beautiful game. Bioware always makes beautiful games. (Even if their female characters are usually in pretty revealing outfits) But I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed again, Bioware.

Here’s some background info. Mass Effect 1 featured a character that you could customize, male or female, even their background to some extent. All of it effected the game a little. You also chose how you reacted to certain situations throughout the game as well–you could be a paragon of virtue, or a total prick to everyone you met. The same goes for Mass Effect 2. You make a character, customize them (or pick your character from Mass Effect 1 if you’ve beaten it), and make choices for how your character acts toward others. In ME1 you were able to make your female character gay with the alien Liara or the Consort, a sort of high-end alien prostitute on the Citadel. You could not make your male character gay.

I let it slide. Why? Because there wasn’t anything I felt I could do about it. But now I’m playing ME2, and you still can’t be a gay male. The claim has been made on the forums that you can be gay as a woman in ME1, but it isn’t really “gay” because the Liara’s people are unisex, thus not technically female (they still have “hawt boobehs,” soft voices for the most part, tiny waists, and basically look like blue women–they are also, apparently, the majority of strippers in the galaxy). However, in Dragon Age: Origins, I found out, you can be a gay women, or a gay man (with one character, a flamboyant elf of course.)

So basically… what the fuck, Bioware? Do you think a male character can’t be masculine if he fucks dudes? Or are you so inundated by corporate greed that you can’t see what you have the power to do with your games? Normalize homosexual relationships for gamers? Please stop doing this to your customer base. All Bioware has to do is go on their forums–they will see what their customer base has to say. A lot of people are disappointed, and I’m not the only one.

Thank you, Bioware, for being just another corporate asshat who exploits women and lesbians to make money, and who fails at not ostracizing your customer base. I won’t be purchasing any more games from you until I get my DLC Gay Garrus or my DLC Gay Jacob.

UPDATE: There’s a pretty good article on Kotaku called “BioWare Explains Why There’s No Homosexuality in Mass Effect 2” with an interview with some of the BioWare staff in it. The problem with it, however, is that there IS homosexuality in ME2: female!Shephard can have sex with Kelly [Mass Effect 2 Romance Guide on GamesRadar]. A lot of the comments are along the lines of, “Well, duh, the characters aren’t GAY” so I decided to respond… My comment hasn’t been posted but I thought it was good, and since I have an ego the size of a small star, here’s my comment [sorry for the Huge Block of Text That is My Comment]:

“So, a lot of the replies here seem to be, “Well, not everyone is gay or bi, jeez!” … So, why the hell can the female Shepard be bi? They’re the same person, just a different gender. I don’t understand the concept of “Male Shepard just doesn’t seem like a gay character to me.” WTF makes a “gay character?” What, does he need to wear a pink scarf and tell everyone about his cake-decorating hobby? Can a male video game character be tough, gruff, and strong, AND happen to like men? In the game, if you are a woman, you can have sex with Kelly. But you cannot have sex with any of the male characters if you are male. This is the real issue. They [Bioware] claim that they just didn’t want to put in any gay characters, but in reality, they thought, “Hey, dudes play this game, and dudes like some girl-on-girl action, no matter how PG it is! Let’s just add in some lesbians, and forget about all those gay men! They are pansies and gross.” Not only is Bioware stereotyping 1) male gamers and 2) gay men, they are also assuming that girls do not play their game, and that if they do, they will just ignore that content. I’m aware this response is long, but I’m hoping I’ve made my point: two different versions of the same person, one male and one female, but the male doesn’t seem “gay” to you, while the female can ride whoever she wants, as long as you get to watch. Nice.”

Seriously, it’s the bullshit.