The Irony of the Internets: Revenge of the Bronies
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 12:50PM It's funny when people see something and immediately think of you. With me it's peacocks, anything turquoise and, sigh, Bronies. Yes, I have a bit of reputation when it comes to the Brony phenomenon due to the article I wrote about them on MOMfia last year. The post blew up on the site, and the Bronies came out in herds (haha - get it?) to defend themselves.
At first I let these kids (?) explain their side of the story and welcomed their comments that were desperately trying to prove me wrong. Cries of "we just love the animation" and "the story lines are aimed at adults" were thrown out and most of the initial comments were innocent - Bronies just trying to prove that they were NOT wanting to have sex with animated rainbow horses or children. Then the comments turned a bit nasty, and we decided to shut them off. But that doesn't stop the Bronies from emailing me on a regular basis telling me I'm a closed minded, uptight bitch.
I will admit, there for awhile I thought maybe I was. And that kinda horrified me.
I did make a jump to associating Bronies with child molestation and that, in hindsight, may have been too harsh. Because a grown person likes rainbows, hearts and talking horses does not mean they want to have sex with children. I get it. It was pure MOM-paranoia. And if this subculture really was not hurting kids, why should I care what these older men (and women) are doing in their free time? I really didn't mean to be overly dramatic about the whole thing... or come off so judgmental. I really just thought that this was an important thing for other moms to know, because YOU NEVER KNOW. Right?
RIGHT?
10 months after writing that article I was on a long call with AT&T Tech Support. In an attempt to keep Zoe entertained, I gave her my iPad and set her down on my bed while I argued with the tech support not 10 feet away. I've talked about what a digital child Zoe is before; She's 4 years old and can navigate an iPad better than most baby boomers. In fact, a recent tantrum was sparked because I refused to give her my password to iTunes.
Seriously. She wanted to buy an app and I wouldn't let her. Hello, Being 4 in 2012: This is what you look like.
So, Zoe was playing with the iPad and I heard something about Rarity and Pinky Pie in the background. She does have a few episodes of the show on my iPad in addition to the My Little Pony app, so nothing that raised suspicion. Until I heard a distinct male voice saying something about petting ponies. I ran over as fast as I could and grabbed the iPad from her hot little hands while screaming "NO YOUTUBE!" But it was too late. The "damage" was done...
The ironic part? She wasn't watching something made by a Brony - but a cartoon called "My Little Bronies" by College Humor, which, in fact, pokes fun at the Brony subculture.
Yes, I'm well aware that the Bronies reading this right now are smiling and muttering things about "karma being a bitch"...
While my main fear of the Brony fandom was my innocent daughter finding sexualy explicit MLP YouTube videos, in actuality I was left trying to explain to a 4 year old why a grown man has a collection of ponies and why Rarity and Pinkie Pie were trying to run away from him.
Quite literally when it came to the Bronies, I had nothing to fear but the fear itself.
BRONIES, Brony, MLP, My Little Pony, My little Broney in Insanity 
Reader Comments (6)
I was Cher Horowitz about the Bronies until you wrote that initial post. The whole thing still gives me the creeps. Do the Care Bears have a similar following? Eek.
Well...that's what you get for accusing male fans of My Little Pony of being sex-craved pedophiles.
Even the tiny (weird) subset of Bronies that have a sexual fetish for MLP definitely don't have it for little girls: the characters in MLP are adult ponies. They want to have sex with talking ponies, not kids.
And here's the key part: *THE VAST MAJORITY OF MALE FANS OF THE SHOW ARE IN THE 16-25 YEAR RANGE, AND ARE NOT GROWN OR MARRIED MEN.* It's no different than being a fan of Powerpuff Girls or Pokemon, which are both very popular in that age group among males and females.
Not every 'adult fan' of this show is a creepy fool, but some of them are.
Anything and everything can be corrupted by the internet and those who live on it. In such cases, it is always best to err on the side of caution.
I wanted to leave a message on your MOMfia article. I actually used your article in an academic essay about Bronys changing what defines masculine and feminine. Needless to say your artlicle was used as the Anti-Brony, which I rebuttled with Rebecca Angel from Geekmom's article "In Defense of Bronies". You should read that article too. Your article did somewhat make me upset as I'm a single father with a 5 year old daughter and 2 year old son. They both watch the show and I usually watch it with them. I love the show for what messages it brings and that it doesn't promote gender stereo-types. I even play ponys with her, and I have no diobolical thoughts in my mind. I did laugh when I saw that your husband jumped to your defense on his blog. I knew that would come, and it wasn't especially professional on ether of your approtches on the topic. Please become aware and stop throwing around the word pedophile or child molester, its a destructive term if used as a weapon. Its really a shame that if any grown man is interesting in anything that the corperation drivin pop culture decides as "For girls" be labled as a pedophile. Men aren't always at fault ether, some women are just as bad as the male perverts. MSNBC states women are more likely to kill children then men are. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42634832/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
I don't believe that we should stereotype by genders anymore, its the state of mind of the person not whats between their legs.
Below I have pasted the definition of "Rule 34" from urbandictionary.com on internet pornography. This is true, there exists pornographic material for anything from Tellitubbies to Harry Potter. Its not just guys drawing this pornographic art, but women as well. You can't just judge one sub-culture by the pornographic artwork, these perverts probably make up 5% of the total following.
Rule 34
Generally accepted internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject.
Additionally it is accepted that the rule itself has limitations and you cannot be too specific on the content of the item in question.
Most commonly used on various message boards for various reasons, from humor to cruelty.
I am glad that you have somewhat come to see that being a Brony doesn't promote the touching of children. It's a wierd sub culture, and promotes ideas which are strange to most. But compared to most other things today, Bronys should not be your biggest concern as most of them are just harmless geeks. I'd be more worried about Juggalos who religiously follow the teachings of two rapping "insaine murdering clowns" called Insain Clown Posse, kids who try to live the "Gangster" life style, and the people at your local daycare.
Lets just have a little love and tollerance for our fellow person.. enjoy the freedom we have been given to express ourselves in what way we ever choose (as long as its within the law). I've served 10 years in the US Army and I have no problem with Bronies.
Thank you for at least reconsidering what you said. Me? I'm a 23 year old female brony. I love the show because it's fun the ponies are cute and it helps me though hard times. it even reminds me of the first show from the 80's even though I was not born when it came out. I mean after all the shows creator even said she wanted to make them the ones she had as a kid, but Hasbro no longer had the rights to all of them but Spike and Applejack. Just look at this chart don't worry it's rated G. http://mlpforums.com/uploads/monthly_07_2012/post-6224-0-74243700-1342617611.jpg http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111008160732/mlpfanart/images/a/af/Spike_timeline.png. The bronies that are good they make wonderful fan art and flash games. Take this as an example purely G rated http://www.dolldivine.com/mlp-fim-pony-creator.php it's a game where you can make your own pony any color any type you want it to be, a Pegasus earth or unicorn or even alicorn (one like Celestia Luna and Cadance and now Twilight) Take mine for example All the pictures are rated G no worries http://sta.sh/220i9jneq7s6?edit=1 I have had fan art of mine done too. http://sequinoxed.deviantart.com/art/Pyra-Obsidian-332864346 http://bossboi.deviantart.com/art/Other-OP-Pyra-Obsidian-335015396 http://evil-rick.deviantart.com/art/Commission-Pyra-Obsidian-342753426. I'm just trying to show you more that part of us are good. Some of us make plush dolls by hand even better then the official ones but they are pricey I wanted an Applejack with the element of harmony necklace and the lady who has kids of her own by the way said it would be $475 I said it was way to much so later on I got a one from another person for $90 that has glow in the dark eyes freckles and part of it's cutie mark Now I am getting a background pony made which looks like the 11th doctor in Doctor Who. Thank you for taking your time to read this.
Commenting nearly 4 years later. I am still a huge fan. I am now a married woman to the man I have been with since before I wrote my last comment. I know that the show is still targeted towards young girls. I do not have one yet. I am on Mirena at almost 27 to control my periods. I have no interest in having kids right now. I am not a sexual deviant or pedophile. In fact I think all of them should be castrated for the males and I am not sure for the women who do that sick thing to children. I do like the porn in the fandom but I only look up characters who are adults. I no longer have Pyra Obsidian as my ponysona. I have a pegasus I have had for nearly 3 years which is a mare named Jimjams who's cutie mark (the butt mark on their flanks) is based off of my engagement/wedding ring. I have many shirts in audlt sizes which are all official and 2 hoodies in which one looks like a kids type with ears and wings and rainbow sleeves. I have cosplayed as Rainbow Dash too and, kids and parents here love it when they see me in my pony gear in public stuffed pony and all. I hope you all understand bronies a lot better now.