Does anyone else feel frustrated with the lack of female directed FIM stuff?

[Koudoawaia]

Personally, I don't mind wearing men's tshirts. I have one that I've worn since 2005 in fact. I'd prefer getting a men's shirt from welovefine over a women's shirt after what getting a women's welovefine shirt resulted in at Hot Topic. I'm worried I'll run into something silly like the sizes for women being so ridiculous that a XX Extra Large is still tight on me  which is what happened with my shirt from Hot Topic. Anyplace else, I'd be swimming in a XX Extra Large shirt.  Unfortunately, I do find that the designs for men's shirts in general are more appealing than designs on women's shirts too. =/

[toralei]

I honestly am not too bothered..... I think that each design should come in both the "male" cut and the "female" cut. But at the same time I think it is nice to see something that is traditionally considered "girly" be embraced by many cisgendered males.. A lot of times it's considered acceptable for a woman to accept something considered masculine, as society often sees it as her trying to 'better" herself, but, men adopting traditionally feminine things is considered shameful due to deeply ingrained misogyny in society...


...I'm rambling and going waaaaaaay off topic. Sorry about that 

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I actually really like the fact that everything comes in men's sizes before women's. I loath clothing that is clingy or revealing because I dress conservatively, and most women's tees have gigantic neck holes and are built for an hourglass figure I do not have. I can't count the number of times I've turned up my nose at a shirt that I enjoyed the graphics of because it was built for some size 0 girl with a flat stomach and huge breasts.

This.
I'm not really frustrerated since while I'm a girl, womens shirts tend to be to small for me, so I buy mens anyway. Though, they do need more.

[fingerpaints]

I don't mind wearing mens shirts, it's much harder to pick the size off a rack for a womens top, I hate trying things on in a store, and you don't know what sizing is going to be like online, so I generally go with a men's where possible. It isn't always great either. I just purchased a 5XL mens shirt off ebay, and it has come in looking more like an 2XL, luckily, I do fit a 2XL, cause im a larger unicorn, but I deliberalely ordered a larger size so it would be baggy on me, I wanted something I could just laze around the house in comfort in - not something that fits nicely as such :/ I am not a 5XL, and it drives me nuts that something that actually *fits perfect* has a label with 5XL on it, makes me feel like a whale

[Sanadaookami]

Yeah... I can't wear any of them at all. D: Large busts and high neck-lines just don't go well together.

It's a shame because I really wanted the Pinkie Moon one.

So much this. I can't ever get away with a mans shirt without looking silly. Luckily I sew so normally I just fix that issue if I really like the shirt- but not on one that expensive... I guess we could always just mail them and ask for more girl options?

[Tally Mark]

I'll wear mens shirts sometimes, but I'm really just more comfortable in fitted shirts. I think its just so frustrating partly because this is what ALWAYS happens--they know a girl will wear a guys shirt but a guy won't wear a girls shirt, so they cater to just guys knowing the girls will make do with it. Ironically, this is the problem they had with cartoons for girls/boys, until MLP--before MLP, a girl would watch a show for boys but a boy wouldn't watch a show for girls, so most good shows were aimed at boys.


At least that has changed!

[babylicketysplit]

   i really cant fit in the mens.  im a petite girl who has to order small in womens.   and if i order a small in mens there is no room for chest area.  if i order bigger i look like a box LOL

[Lon-san]

I, also, usually buy "men's" tee shirts. I need my space, man.

But if you find the shirts too boxy, e-mail and request a different fit. If they get a bunch of letters and they are nicely written inquires about a product people are looking for then I'm sure they would consider it. Heck, maybe a few guys would even go for a more fitted look. As long as it's not all "OMG WHY YOU HATE WOMEN??" it probably won't even register as a complaint.

[Snapdragon]

Urgh, don't even get me started. So sick of guys completely taking over MLP.

Yeah, this. I'm really not happy with the T-shirt companies throwing us a piddling few T-shirts (always in teeny-tiny juniors sizes, no less!) during the G3 heydey, but G4 hits, and it's like "OMG, MEN LIKE THIS SHOW NOW?! QUICK, FALL ALL OVER YOURSELVES TO CATER TO THEM!!"

I guess big companies forget that women make, what was it, 80% of purchase decisions in the US? I read that in a survey somewhere - people are so eager to cater to the 18-34 male set, when in fact it's usually women spending most of the money on their products... lrn2smartness, guys!

Didn't Hasbro have an official Zazzle page or something? It sounds like a good thing to hunt down to me, they have a lot more sizing options, last time I checked.

[DoctorMowinckel]

I don't buy any of the t-shirts or anything, but it still makes me mad. MLP was and is meant for girls. GIRLS, people!

Sure, it's marketed to girls, but if a guy wants to spend his days drowning in ponies, there's nothing wrong with that. Are action flicks for guys? Videogames? How 'bout engineering careers, scientific careers?

What's upsetting is when someone assumes one gender should close themselves off to something because society says so. The male MLP fanbase isn't saying it's not for girls, but they're trying to make it theirs, and therein lies the problem. The 'brony' movement is acting like they both own and invented ponies, the segregating of the fanbase is what's upsetting.

[Snapdragon]

I don't buy any of the t-shirts or anything, but it still makes me mad. MLP was and is meant for girls. GIRLS, people!

Sure, it's marketed to girls, but if a guy wants to spend his days drowning in ponies, there's nothing wrong with that. Are action flicks for guys? Videogames? How 'bout engineering careers, scientific careers?

... yes? You do realize that all of those things are almost exclusively marketed to/created for guys, right? Popular media (movies, video games), especially? Tell me the last time you saw an action movie that was marketed towards/starring women (in a non male-gazey way), pre-Hunger Games. Really, I'll wait. Ditto for video games - it's only very recently that 'big name action games' (such as ME3) are starting to even consider their female demographic, despite a decent number of female gamers. For the most part, they market/design their products towards the male audience, and any women who happen to like it are more of an afterthought.

Similarly, the 'popular theory' for many years held that women were good at social studies/language arts, and men were better at scientific/engineering careers - when in fact it's more of a social construct that tells men/women which jobs/majors are 'best' for them, not any kind of actual brain chemistry differences between the sexes. The social pressure is simply that women who like math are 'weird' and men who like social studies are too. It's not right, but it's what is passed around in the culture.

I can see your point, you're just making it a way I disagree with. Men 'own' a lot of popular media as it is - they don't need to be stealing shows from little girls and acting like they have the 'right' to own it, or to be the loudest voices in its fandom. But that said, men should absolutely feel welcome to the MLP fandom - just not in a way that becomes condescending ("FiM isn't like old pony shows, it's not GIRLY"), or tries to replace the other half of the fandom. It is what it is - a girly, cute little show that is entertaining for all ages and genders. It doesn't have to be 'for men' or 'manly' for it to be charming. People should just love MLP for what it is, not what they think it should be.

[Lon-san]

The 'brony' movement is acting like they both own and invented ponies, the segregating of the fanbase is what's upsetting.

PART of it does. I don't think  that word could be emphasised enough. The "The ponies are ours now. Do what we say, Hasbro!" people are loud and anoying but the more normal bronies are rolling their eyes at that.

Men mostly wear men's shirts. A chunk of women ALSO wear men's tee shirts. It's not like the designs all actually say "I am a MAN and I like MLP", most of it is gender neutral. It's probably less falling over themselves to cater only to just men and more "Eh, more people will order this style anyway." But you can ASK them. If there's a big demand, they probably won't say "no" unless they hate money.

[DoctorMowinckel]

I don't buy any of the t-shirts or anything, but it still makes me mad. MLP was and is meant for girls. GIRLS, people!

Sure, it's marketed to girls, but if a guy wants to spend his days drowning in ponies, there's nothing wrong with that. Are action flicks for guys? Videogames? How 'bout engineering careers, scientific careers?

... yes? You do realize that all of those things are almost exclusively marketed to/created for guys, right? Popular media (movies, video games), especially? Tell me the last time you saw an action movie that was marketed towards/starring women (in a non male-gazey way), pre-Hunger Games. Really, I'll wait. Ditto for video games - it's only very recently that 'big name action games' (such as ME3) are starting to even consider their female demographic, despite a decent number of female gamers. For the most part, they market/design their products towards the male audience, and any women who happen to like it are more of an afterthought.

Similarly, the 'popular theory' for many years held that women were good at social studies/language arts, and men were better at scientific/engineering careers - when in fact it's more of a social construct that tells men/women which jobs/majors are 'best' for them, not any kind of actual brain chemistry differences between the sexes. The social pressure is simply that women who like math are 'weird' and men who like social studies are too. It's not right, but it's what is passed around in the culture.

I can see your point, you're just making it a way I disagree with. Men 'own' a lot of popular media as it is - they don't need to be stealing shows from little girls and acting like they have the 'right' to own it, or to be the loudest voices in its fandom. But that said, men should absolutely feel welcome to the MLP fandom - just not in a way that becomes condescending ("FiM isn't like old pony shows, it's not GIRLY"), or tries to replace the other half of the fandom. It is what it is - a girly, cute little show that is entertaining for all ages and genders. It doesn't have to be 'for men' or 'manly' for it to be charming. People should just love MLP for what it is, not what they think it should be.

I'm aware of all of this, I regularly stomp around and huff and puff about gender equality. Society gives those with matching chromosomes the short end of the stick, and it's a load of horseapples. But the contrary applies too, don't put me in a box and tell me I can't like ponies 'cause I have a Y chromosome, 'cause I sure as Shire talk wouldn't tell a woman they should do something based on their gender. It's not okay to say 'this is for boys, not for girls', screw that attitude. I extend my middle finger to that viewpoint just as readily as I extend to the attitude 'this is for girls, not for boys'. It goes both ways.

And I totally agree with you. If people want to watch ponies, they should watch it regardless of their gender, and enjoy for what it is. It's a brightly coloured sugary sweet show about ponies whose goal is to be awesome to each other (not to mention it has incredibly awesome gender equality undertones). If you like it for that, embrace it, don't stand behind a label, just say you like ponies! Ain't nothin' wrong with that, ponies are awesome!

I honestly feel bad for both of us, for this conversation. 'Cause I feel like we're both arguing about the same thing, on the same side, on the same page, and we're somehow not seeing eye to eye. Part of that's 'cause while I am a proponent of gender equality, I can never see it from the other side, I can do my best to empathize, and I do, but it's not my plight, so I'll never fully understand it.

Basically it sucks. The culture that tries to put both of our genders in boxes sucks. Fortunately it's changing, slowly, but it's changing.

[Dawn]

Yeah... I can't wear any of them at all. D: Large busts and high neck-lines just don't go well together.

Small busts and high neck lines don't work either, it makes me look like a boy! x) This is an issue with a lot of band t-shirts too, they often make them in smaller sizes, but still the typical tshirt shape, it's annoying :-/

[okapishomapi]

...ugH!  starting to feel like a jerk... 

This is how I feel. Like, I don't want to complain about the new popularity, and I certainly don't want to deter anyone (including men!) away from MLP, but I want to be included to :/

Post Merge: March 21, 2012, 01:26:15 AM

DoctorMon and Snapdragon - I love you both right now. As a female engineer who loves video games, action movies, dolls, and ponies....you guys make me feel accepted here