Will MLP ever be gender neutral?

[Sparkle Pony]

This thread is beautiful.  I think guys that like MLP are awesome AND I think girls that like MLP are awesome.  I don't really prescribe to the idea that certain hobbies are only for one gender, but there is a definite divide on what people think is acceptable for a certain gender to enjoy and companies like Hasbro take notice.  For example, I like to collect MLP but I'm also a huge gamer.  People might think it's weird, but it makes me happy.  On the other hand, I do understand why people might want things to not be so sharply divided.  As a gamer, I'm often flat out frustrated by the portrayal of women in games.  Do I think that those games should be more "gender neutral"?  I sure do.  In the same vein, I wish that there were a lot less "girls" franchises that did the whole Slice of Life thing.  MLP would be pretty awesome an adventure high-fantasy series like the G1 cartoon.  In the end though, we can't just have EVERYTHING become gender neutral eventually because hopefully one day these barriers will dissipate and little boys will show of their collection of G7 ponies while girls excitedly play videogames with their friends.

Sorry if that was hard to follow, I'm not very good at typing out my ideas sometimes.

[otocolobus_manul]

For a moment I thought the title was referring to having characters of non-binary genders. Which is still unlikely, unfortunately.

On the actual topic at hand, though:

Or how about we just accept that guys can like girly toys instead of making everything "gender neutral"?
Heaven forbid a guy needs to buy something in a pink packaging...

Yeah. I don't really see the need to make colorful plastic ponies exclusive to one gender or another.

[reanna-mator]

Everyone makes really, REALLY good points. I think I agree most with the assertion that if we didn't have such stringent expectations of how boys and girls should act and what they should like that we wouldn't need to be having discussions about gender neutral toys. Kids could just play with whatever they wanted.

[DazzleKitty]

Instead of changing MLP, we need to make society 'grow up' and learn that being 'girly' isn't a bad thing.

Yes! This!

Being seen as feminine is bad. So that must mean being female is bad, right? I don't think so!

It's more acceptable for women to like things aimed at men rather than the other way around. People need to get over their sexism and enjoy what they like whether it be masculine or feminine.

I like how feminine MLP is. The girlyness appeals to me. And the fact there are male collectors out there willing to buy them "despite" the pink packaging is awesome.

[Majesty]

I would love to see adult shirts of MLP for both ladies and guys in stores like Walmart and Target, but what gets me is how they have tons of shirts/clothes for little girls - but nothing for the boys!  Tons of boys like MLP, my nephew is one of them.  He'd love to have pony merch.  Missed marketing potential from Hasbro. :/

Actually I've seen Brony shirts at Hot Topics and Walmart had a shirt with a Pony silhouette that had the word Stud underneath in KISS-like letters. I thought it was pretty funny

I would like to see pony shirts at Walmart in Target for women in general not just for juniors or toddlers.  I've seen several G1 shirts but they are all in toddler or junior size that I would not fit into.

[zombienixon]

I don't really see a need for it to be more gender neutral.  For one, it's been a girls toy for over 30 years, you'd have to put in a lot of time and effort to make one of the most well known girls toys into something neutral.

In any case, some things will just appeal more to one gender than another. My Little Pony is definitely one of those things.

Besides, part of the charm of MLP (particularly the show) comes from its girliness, and taking that away would just make it more bland.

[Al-1701]

MLP would be pretty awesome an adventure high-fantasy series like the G1 cartoon. 

And this really isn't making it gender neutral.  This is accepting that girls can be adventures too.

[MiRaja]

MLP would be pretty awesome an adventure high-fantasy series like the G1 cartoon. 

And this really isn't making it gender neutral.  This is accepting that girls can be adventures too.

Very true.  I think some of this topic is kind of a contradiction, no?  What innately makes MLP girly?  Please, definition.  Because it has lots of pink and pastel colored horses?  Or deals with a lot of life lessons in friendships?  How is that innately girly?  Because there's a lot of girl characters?  FiM still has better male representation than most 'male' or action genre shows have for women.  But I digress, what innately of those things makes MLP girly?  Isn't classifying it as such making it more gender restrictive?  Why can't boys like frilly and frou-frou things?  If we want to be 'gender neutral,' than we should be able to accept that children, no matter their perceived gender, can be anyway they want, and just because a girl likes to roll around in the mud playing with transformers, and a boy wants to wear dresses and play with pretty ponies, why does the girl have to be classified as boyish, and the boy girlish?  Children's play is just that, and I think if we want to break down binaries and encourage this gender neutrality, then we need to accept that certain colors, styles of dress, objects, toys, items, animals, etc, are not in anyway innately girlish or boyish.  But simply children's play.  The whole masculine and feminine and perceptions of what defines each are societal constructs. 

[Malicieuse]

For a moment I thought the title was referring to having characters of non-binary genders. Which is still unlikely, unfortunately.

On the actual topic at hand, though:

Or how about we just accept that guys can like girly toys instead of making everything "gender neutral"?
Heaven forbid a guy needs to buy something in a pink packaging...

I don't really see the need to make colorful plastic ponies exclusive to one gender or another.

This really isn't about making things exclusive to one gender. Every time i see a topic like this it's basicly about making ponies "less girly".
Cause "girly" (whatever that means) is bad or something.

[Al-1701]

I think the better goal is to make "girly" less of a bad thing.  Our perception of "girly" is weakness and frivolousness.  G1 seemed to be trying to buck that trend by having a bunch of female ponies with ribbons in their tails go on adventures you could just as easily see male characters go on.  The ponies were girly, but their conflicts weren't always stereotypical "girl" conflicts.  I'm really not sure if I worded that right but I hope you get what I mean.

[Aitsuki]

I think the first step is just... not caring?? I didn't as a kid.... I watched TMNT, Care Bears, MLP, and Power Rangers. I just did whatever I felt like. Being told "girls don't do that" didn't matter to me... I ran around like a hooligan, I once head-butted a mean boy, but I also played with girls and did fairy-tale things. If I enjoyed it, it was for me. Girl or boy was meaningless.

[Harmonie]

For a moment I thought the title was referring to having characters of non-binary genders. Which is still unlikely, unfortunately.

On the actual topic at hand, though:

Or how about we just accept that guys can like girly toys instead of making everything "gender neutral"?
Heaven forbid a guy needs to buy something in a pink packaging...

I don't really see the need to make colorful plastic ponies exclusive to one gender or another.

This really isn't about making things exclusive to one gender. Every time i see a topic like this it's basicly about making ponies "less girly".
Cause "girly" (whatever that means) is bad or something.

Yeah, I can't help but laugh at Bronies who are so happy to exclaim that they're defying gender roles, only to turn around and insult the earlier generations for being "too girly". Or even more contradictory, they turn around and claim that FiM is "gender-neutral", or "not for girls anymore".

If being 'girly' is something that is bad to them, they clearly aren't defying any gender roles whatsoever.

[Diamond]

Or how about we just accept that guys can like girly toys instead of making everything "gender neutral"?
Heaven forbid a guy needs to buy something in a pink packaging...

This!  And what Harthrocat said. 

[DazzleKitty]

I think the better goal is to make "girly" less of a bad thing.  Our perception of "girly" is weakness and frivolousness.  G1 seemed to be trying to buck that trend by having a bunch of female ponies with ribbons in their tails go on adventures you could just as easily see male characters go on.  The ponies were girly, but their conflicts weren't always stereotypical "girl" conflicts.  I'm really not sure if I worded that right but I hope you get what I mean.

I see what you mean. But we need to teach that being "girly" isn't all about weakness.  You can be "girly" and still be a strong person. We need to re-define what being girly really is.

[Al-1701]

I see what you mean. But we need to teach that being "girly" isn't all about weakness.  You can be "girly" and still be a strong person. We need to re-define what being girly really is.

That's what I'm saying.  It needs to be demonstrated that girls, and not just the tomboyish girls, are just as capable to handling themselves as boys.  Girly is cunning.  Girly is determined.  Girly is maybe not as violent but capable of resolving conflicts of weight.