MLP In National Geographic

[Rainbow Dash]

In the latest issue, MLP makes two appearances.  It's a special issue focused on genders, and the first pony to appear is in the completely pink room of a young girl.  Then there's a full page picture a bit further in.  One of the teens they interviewed was posing on a bed with a herd of ponies.

I never expected to see My Little Pony (or Care Bears or Hello Kitty for that matter) in National Geographic.

[piinkypiie]

Pic!

[Strawberry Swirl]

Definitely need to see pics, I was looking for ponies in that particular issue too and must have missed them. 

[Artemesia's Garden]

Maybe I should buy it

[Rainbow Dash]

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Closeup of the last picture.  G3 Rarity?
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[Mermaid]

Are those custom ponies in the first?! So cool thanks for sharing!

[Galactica]

Awesome!  I actually have this one- haven't even been able to read it yet but it looks really good!

[Barnacle_lady]

Thats cool

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

I never expected this! What do they say about mlp?

[LadyMoondancer]

Judging by the captions, it's an article about gender.    The girl with the pony collection (which does seem to have a lot of customs in it, good eye!) is intersex (meaning having private parts which have both male and female characteristics) and identifies as a girl.

My guess is that the second picture, of the half-blue / half-pink room, isn't the room of a real kid, but is set up to show how things are marketed to kids . . . Blue is "for" boys, pink is "for" girls.

I actually feel that the split between "girl stuff" and "boy stuff" has gotten worse since the 80s.  MLP FIM is pretty good about including adventure and excitement, but a lot of "girls shows", especially the ones aimed at younger girls, make it obvious that the writers have no respect for their audience. 

Incidentally, this is why the brony meme of "You know, for little girls" infuriates me.  Yeah, how could a girl ever enjoy action or adventure? Cra-za-zy!

[Stormness_1]

Media segregation annoys me so much. As a little girl I adored Sailor Moon, but I adored Dragon Ball Z just as much. They're often seen as the two sides of the coin, but I loved both. People assume I'm a guy all the time when I chat about Dragon Ball online. I always identified as a tomboy, but even so I loved MLP and Care bears, but felt like I couldn't share that because I was a tomboy, and tomboys couldn't be that girly. It'd be like destroying my own identity by being myself, as weird as that sounds. Then when I did come out of the pink closet, I felt bad liking masculine things like I was going back on myself. It shouldn't be an issue. Kids should be allowed to like what they like, without feeling like those feelings are wrong. Grrr, society!

[Artemesia's Garden]

I saw Laura Nelson speak at Cambridge Festival of Ideas a few years ago, she's really interesting...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/dr-laura-nelson

My niece doesn't always like pink but given the choice she chooses pink.  I bought her a Cadence TY plushie for Christmas.  The Luna one was so much nicer though...

[Al-1701]

Marketers like everything to be nice and neat.  Clear lines between genders, age groups, races, social status, etc.  It means they can make a simple message that will reach the target.  The more those lines are blurred, and more amorphous the message and the less punch it has in their eyes.

[WaterRaven]

Media segregation annoys me so much. As a little girl I adored Sailor Moon, but I adored Dragon Ball Z just as much. They're often seen as the two sides of the coin, but I loved both. People assume I'm a guy all the time when I chat about Dragon Ball online. I always identified as a tomboy, but even so I loved MLP and Care bears, but felt like I couldn't share that because I was a tomboy, and tomboys couldn't be that girly. It'd be like destroying my own identity by being myself, as weird as that sounds. Then when I did come out of the pink closet, I felt bad liking masculine things like I was going back on myself. It shouldn't be an issue. Kids should be allowed to like what they like, without feeling like those feelings are wrong. Grrr, society!

I was a Tom Boy as well. In fact, if my Barbie's weren't mermaids, they were eaten by dinosaurs. I played with more dinosaurs, alien toys, and creatures than I ever did "girlie" things. I had a short hair cut when I was a kid and when I was real young, mistaken for a boy because I hung out with boy, sometimes wore boy clothes, and new a lot about xmen, spiderman, and DBZ, in addition to the aliens franchise and Jurassice park

[Rainbow Dash]

Yes, this is a special issue dedicated entirely to gender and how perceptions are changing.