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Quote from: Malicieuse on November 28, 2012, 03:08:26 AM"It's the male fans, however, who have taken a kids' show and turned it into a pop-culture phenom."Yeah...sure.It's unfortunately true. Male-dominated fanbases are always catered to, females are (usually) overlooked, unless it's something atrocious like Twilight or another book series I won't mention here.
"It's the male fans, however, who have taken a kids' show and turned it into a pop-culture phenom."Yeah...sure.
The responses here haven't exactly made me feel the greatest for being a male brony. Don't think Faust intended to make a show that catered to anyone except for young girls and their parents, I really don't think an unexpected fanbase did anything but make the show and toys more popular...
Faust picked out some good examples of what people can be, and showed that not everyone has to be the same. The show has lessons that cross gender lines and that are relevant to many people, restricting it to just one gender is denying them both a great cartoon and valuable life lessons.I don't watch the show to just break gender lines. I watch the show because it is fantastic.
Quote from: Tupin on November 29, 2012, 08:22:36 PMFaust picked out some good examples of what people can be, and showed that not everyone has to be the same. The show has lessons that cross gender lines and that are relevant to many people, restricting it to just one gender is denying them both a great cartoon and valuable life lessons.I don't watch the show to just break gender lines. I watch the show because it is fantastic.Tupin, please don't feel unwelcome because you're a guy. No one is saying that guys aren't welcome in MLP fandom or that it's only about breaking gender norms, it's much more than that.I guess the best example would be pointing out comic book culture. Girls and women generally aren't welcome there. When they are represented it's as eye candy for men. The outfits for the heroines are nearly always skimpy and tight fitting. When women decide to dress up as these characters, they're then accused of being attention seeking, not knowing the source material, vain, not worthy, the list goes on and on. We just had a future Marvel movie director make a downright sickening commentary on female superheroes. I believe at current there is ONE female working on comics at DC. I got dirty looks from some men at a comic convention just for being there (I wasn't dressed up). Granted, there were also some very nice guys, but this is what we get to deal with most of the time.Now, that example is of a group that has been playing the "boys club" card for years. My Little Pony though, it started as geared towards females and had a female majority fanbase. Not that there were never male fans, but that they didn't make up a greater sum. Then comes the bronies and, while some are majorly cool people, there have been A LOT of guys who have been far less than that.That effect, of having one of not a whole lot of places where we were the majority and our voices were heard, suddenly being drowned out by guys who, from a larger perspective, seem to get more options most of the time? Well, for a lot of fans, it sucks. Did you know that in media, men are represented more than women 3:1? That's just in characters, not to mention that most of these shows are geared to a male demographic.It's not even necessarily that MLP became a more male fanbase or that there are so many rude people (because let's be honest, the negative people always seem louder than the positive ones). It's having the media and culture constantly telling you that you don't count or aren't worth it. It leaves people hurting and makes them defensive of the spaces that are theirs.Men are totally welcome in MLP, in my opinion. I don't think anyone should be forced to avoid a show they like because of their sex or gender. Just, realize that where you are isn't ONLY a man's space and that, while you have the luxury of crossing over into female-based fandoms (disregarding the stigma held for things marked feminine), it's often so much harder for women to get into male-based facets of society.Sadly, there are many bronies who don't realize or accept that, and that's mainly where the issues seem to reside.
On the one hand, I'm very glad male fans are getting positive attention because as has been said many times, we shouldn't be telling people what they can and can't like based on gender, and I think in some ways, it can be a lot harder for a guy to like "girl" stuff than a girl to like "boy" stuff.