What child is this?

adriofthedead:

My Snail Shell: To certain bronies

eschergirls:

lileclaire:

shymollymawk:

persisting:

nikiya:

eschergirls:

snailchimera:

It has come to my attention that a certain segment of the “brony” community has some complaints about their favorite show; not the entire brony population, which has many cool people in it, but enough of a portion to have a visible internet presence.

Namely, they are upset that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is still written primarily to appeal to and be understood by preadolescent girls instead of post-adolescent guys.

This is something my super smart friend SnailChimera wrote that’s a little relevant.

I’ll also add that a difference between Brony complaints about MLP and the issues in comics, video games, etc is that the “meant for a certain subset of hetero guys” thing isn’t just for one comic, or one video game.  Superhero comics and often mainstream comics in general, are assumed to be for that subset of hetero guys.  It’s not just Superman, X-Men, Batman, it’s Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Ms. Marvel, Avengers, everything.  In video games, you’ll see Escher Girls in art and advertising for action games, fighting games, RPGs, strategy games (remember Evony? xD), etc etc etc…

A comparable complaint would be if the Bronies felt every children’s show was meant for pre-adolescent girls, or all mainstream television was meant for children.  It’s one thing to not be the target audience of one show you like, but it’s another when entire industries decide that only one tiny subset that isn’t you is their target audience (it’s not even hetero men, it’s hetero men who want to see non-stop porny things in comics or video games that aren’t about sex).

basically all of this

tbh this is why i hate it when people call themselves “bronies.” you’re contributing to this attitude you guys you’re better than this. ;\ don’t gender what fans are called and don’t separate yourself from the “other” fans. just be ok with being in the same group as women and little girls, ok?

^ This. If you’re male and a fan, that’s awesome. But that doesn’t make you a special fan deserving of a special name and special consideration. Just be a fan. 

And yeah, on the topic of “but where’s my role model/representative/means of perspective in this medium?”: welcome to what women and girls deal with in “mainstream” works (ie, “for men/boys by default, unless we have made it pink and then it is for women/girls”).

Because, once again, masculine things are to be aspired to and it is admirable when women seek them out, while feminine things are in a lower category and it has to be somehow remarkable for a man to associate with them.

Let me add to this;

I see a lot of dialogue along the lines of “Har har, let’s steal little girl’s toys”, “Let’s buy them out so the little girls can’t get any”. I saw a clip of a con panel featuring the show actresses, and they had to remind the room of whooping, hollering man-children that there were little girls in the audience, and could they please bring them up to the front so they could actually hear what was going on.

I know one thing for sure- if I had been a little girl there, I would have been frightened to even go inside, let alone have the attention of hundreds of grown men on me, shouting at me to go up-front. Sure, there are Rainbow Dashes in the world but I was a Fluttershy and I’m pretty sure Fluttershy herself would have headed for the hills.

Male fans need to take on the message of the show. The show will always be for little girls, feminine, silly and cute. It’s great that there are male fans who embrace it and discard society’s rigid definitions of masculinity, who can be gentle and kind and sing songs and not ridiculed for being feminine, because femininity is wonderful.

It’s not so great that there are male fans who want to change it, who want to retain that rigid definition and it’s apparent “superiority” and deny young girls their right to be feminine, their toys, their enjoyment and their space.

Let them go first in the queue. Don’t enter competitions designed for kids. Be mindful of them and don’t holler and whoop at conventions. You wouldn’t scream like a madman at Fluttershy, would you? You wouldn’t buy up all the books so Twilight couldn’t have any, you wouldn’t edge Rarity out of a queue.

Don’t rob a little girl of her chance to be cool or smart or kind. Help her with it, and realise that you can be represented in the show too… wit, braveness, athleticism and style aren’t gender exclusive.

This is also really really smart and really really important, so I am reblogging it. :)   (I’m not part of MLP fandom so I had no idea this stuff was happening, that sounds pretty frightening. x_x )