If your fantasies involve putting a feather in your hat and calling it macaroni...you might be a clopper.

Bronies, MRAs, and Nice Guys: Know the Difference

I don't know exactly how these three terms have become considered practically synonymous with each other in some circles, but apparently they have.  While some people fall into more than one of these categories, being part of one does not inherently imply you're part of either of the others.  Here are the definitions of the three groups as I understand it:

Bronies - A gender-neutral term for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans who belong to an older demographic.  It is a fandom and not directly linked to any sort of political agenda, but friendship is generally seen in a positive light.

MRAs - MRAs are people who support the Men's Rights Movement which, as the name implies, is a social justice movement focusing on the rights of men.  It is political in nature and not directly linked to either ponies or friendship.

Nice Guys - Nice Guys are men who feel that being nice to a woman entitles him to have a relationship with her.  This attitude is not directly linked with a political movement, has nothing to do with ponies, and often views friendship with women in a negative light.

So, there you go.  Please recognize that these are three unique groups and understand that if a person belongs to one, that doesn't automatically mean they belong to any of the others.  Thank you for your time!

Earlier today I came across a post on my dash that reads as follows:

"It’s funny, because when women enjoy male-dominated things like video games or comics, we are called “attention whores”, yet men who take over an entire fandom of a show aimed at little girls and create their own little movement based on it claim to be oppressed because people are creeped out by them. And then they’ve got the nerve to argue they are “challenging masculinity”? Puh-lease. Bronies are entitled males, they hate women, they even seem to hate the little girls the show was originally made for."

  —oma-schmidt (via never-obey)

  Now, I'm a brony.  I am also a female (and, just to clarify: I don't hate myself).  "Brony", for anyone who isn't aware, is a gender-neutral term referring to older fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  Most bronies do seem to be male, but I don't think I've seen anyone in the fandom take issue with me (or any other women) using the same title.

I enjoy surfing /r/mylittlepony (one of the few places on reddit where I feel generally safe from misogyny and rape jokes) and I used to play in a number of pony RPs over on ponychan.  I've also been to a couple brony meet-ups in my area, both with quite impressive turnouts.

Now, I've corresponded with some bronies that have been insufferable and others who have been absolute delights.  Which is to be expected with such a large fandom.  That said, I haven't spoken with one that appeared to hate women.  No one online has told me that I didn't belong because I'm a girl.  When I went to the meet-ups, yes, I'm sure they noticed that I was one of the relatively few women there, but as far as I can tell they neither flocked to me, nor avoided me.  They complimented my cosplay, they welcomed me into conversations, and I was just generally treated as one of the herd.

Now, I'm not saying that misogynistic bronies don't exist just because I've never met one.  Perhaps the person claiming that bronies hate women has had bad personal experiences with some of us.  But even if that's true, it's not fair to condemn an entire fandom based on the actions of a select few, who I suspect are at least reasonably atypical.  After all, if you hated women, why would you dedicate your time to a show where the majority of the cast is made up of strong, unique female characters who succeed in many different aspects of life?

I'm also not aware of exactly where the claim the bronies hate little girls come from.  I've never seen a brony deny that this is a show targeted to little girls or that it's somehow wrong for little girls to enjoy the series.  In fact, my impression is that when most bronies come across a little girl who also likes the show, we think that's pretty darn cool!  Again, maybe the stereotype that bronies hate little girls has some basis in the actions of a select few, but it's not a phenomenon I've seen first-hand.

As far as bronies supposedly feeling "oppressed" for being viewed as "creepy"...I think I've seen...maybe one post along those lines, and I'm guessing it was a troll.  Occasionally you'll get a post about a brony whose parents don't accept them liking the show and/or being a part of the community, (which is something I can understand complaining about, given that a lot of people want their parents to accept them for who they are).  But the vast majority of posts and discussions I've seen relating to My Little Pony aren't about feeling oppressed or hating women or the success of their evil scheme to "take over" a fandom.  No, generally we talk about ponies.  About various episodes, the characters, pony fanworks, the future of the show...stuff like that.  Labeling bronyism as a "movement" makes it sound bronies have some sort of an agenda or cause we're fighting for.  But the truth is, we're mostly just a bunch of people who really like the show and express that love through discussions, fanart, etc.

I find it ironic that the person I quoted above begins their condemnation of bronies by talking about the discrimination many girl gamers face.  Indeed, there do seem to be a lot of guys out there who assume that women simply play video games "for the attention" or "to be trendy" or...whatever reason they think it is women would dare want to try something that was developed for a demographic other than them.  Yeah, sucks, doesn't it?  It really does suck when people make assumptions about you based on your gender and your fandom.  The sheer irony in that post is so apparent, I might think it was a cleverly written satire if it were worded differently.  Sadly, I think the poster is sincere in their double standard: women who tread out of their media-designated zone should be respected, while men who do the same thing are clearly just doing it as a means to overthrow a fandom and create a reason for themselves to feel oppressed.  Is it really that hard to accept that not every interest someone takes up is a result of some ulterior motive?  I like video games, not because I'm a girl or in spite of being a girl.  I like video games because (if they're good) they can be a lot of fun.  And I'm a brony, again, not because of or in spite the fact that I'm a girl.  I'm there for the same reason I suspect most bronies are: because it's a good show with a generally nice and active community.

So here's an editorial that seems to basically be about how bronies are supposedly intruding on something that isn't theirs.

And here's my response to it:

This is absurd. Is it really so difficult to grasp that we can all, you know, share art? That despite the intended demographic, a show doesn't have to belong just to boys or just to girls?

I'm a part of the Megamind fandom and even though this movie was probably targeted towards young boys, just about everyone still in the fandom is an adult woman. Should we all be apologizing for "hijacking" the authors' intent? Does the movie "not belong to us" because we're not the demographic it was intended for?

Nobody should be told what types of art they should or shouldn't enjoy. There isn't some limited supply of love allocated to a specific work of art, where if you go over the set amount, you'll suddenly be "stealing" that art from other fans. Bronies aren't taking away anything from others. They're loving something in their own way. Something that belongs to all of us, regardless of our age and gender.