Gender Stereotypes

[Alelou]

Shran (Combes?) has a continuing role on Transformers Prime. (It's an animated show.)

Admin note: I split this discussion from "Fancy Meeting You Here". It seemed to me like a topic that deserved its own thread. - Distracted

And now this weirdness: My son, and many of his male friends, are huge fans of My Little Pony. Apparently there are so many male fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that they call themselves Bronies. They even read My Little Pony fanfiction.

Is this the first case ever of a bunch of boys loyally watching a girls cartoon? That's not how these things are supposed to work.

[Distracted]

Ummm... may I ask the age of your son?

[Alelou]

17, like most of his friends who are into it. It's really bizarre. There are even t-shirts bronies can buy to proclaim their love for the show.

And, yes, my son is straight. Here's one older dude who who seems to share his affliction, riffing off the most interesting man in the world commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNryNfvcQlY

[WarpGirl]

Okay why is "My Little Pony" considered a girl's show? Why do these things have to be genderized? My mom played with GI-Joe's and she's perfectly normal. My nephew's favorite color is pink and believe me he's as much a "boy" as his father. I don't get these arbitrary stereotypes that somehow tastes control your masculinity or femininity.

It's like journalists saying that because Shilo Jolie-Pitt likes a pixie haircut and her favorite pretend is John from Peter Pan she's destined to grow up and be a Lesian. She's how old 6, she shouldn't know what the word sex means let-alone have a sexual orientation.

[Distracted]

I agree with you, Alelou. It's very strange.

I also agree with you, Warpgirl. My 19 year old daughter (who is gay) played with baby dolls and Barbies when she was little... until she discovered hunting and hockey at about age 8, and that was all she wrote.

But you have to admit that although obsessing about rainbow colored cartoon ponies might be perfectly normal for a 7 year old of either gender, it's a tad odd even in a 17 year old girl, much less a boy.

It's not as if I can really throw stones about odd obsessions, though.

[WarpGirl]

I guess my point is that I don't think hobbies should be an indicator of sexual orientation in society. I know plenty of men who like clothes and preening who are as straight as they come. I know women who are "jocks" and love fishing and all that sportsman stuff, and they love their men too! It also goes the same way in reverse.

I'm sorry it just bugs me that if a little girl rides a dirtbike suddenly because of the new "tolarant" culture she can be labled before she even goes into puberty. It gets me stark raving mad that a 3 yr old boy who plays dress up is labled by experts because it's all okay.

Children should just be children! I didn't have a sexual orientation before I left grammar school! I was a girl!

[Alelou]

I'm not defending gender stereotypes in America, thank you. All I'm noting is that it's a truism of children's programming that girls will watch "boys" shows, but boys won't watch "girls" shows. My son is a typical guy verging on obsessive about Batman/James Bond/general superhero action flicks and is still quite the aficionado of animated shows like the aforesaid Transformers (and Adventure Time, which I have to admit is pretty funny). He's not exactly the most flexible boy, either. He scorns all musicals on principle and would rather dig ditches than watch a Jane Austen movie with me and his dad. So for him and apparently a bunch of guys like him to suddenly be gaga over Rainbow Pony (or whatever her name is) just really puzzles me.

I feel I should check it out, but the title "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" makes ME want to gag.

I'd think this was a sign of excessive irony possibly leading to a bad case of hipster-ism, but I don't see any trace of irony in his appreciation of it, just about his perilous social situation in publicly liking it. (And he can't be too worried about that, since he liked it on Facebook.)

[Kotik]

Quite frankly, if it was my son, I'd be more worried that he's on faceborg to begin with.

The pony-obsession isn't really that weird from a male perspective. First of all, many men find such stuff sort of cute. Not that we would dare to admit to such things. It could end up as a topic of worried moms in a Startrek forum
Six years ago I spent 4 months at home, recovering from a bad case of depression and burnout-syndrome. I'm male and straight as they come, but I liked watching things like Backyardigans, Spongebob etc. - stuff that is meant for people 30 years younger than I. I'm not a psychologist, but I think it may be a sort of "preparation reflex". After all one day every man is expected to be a dad and to deal with such stuff, when the youngsters obsess about it. My younger brother became a dad 3 years ago and little Melanie likes nothing more that cuddling on the sofa with daddy, watching sesame street - and she isn't the only one of the couple, who likes the show
Since your son is still a teenager, it may also be a puberty related thing. When I was 17, the least thing I wanted to be, was, to be like I was expected to. (Does that make sense ) And sure as hell nobody expected him to like little neon-coloured horsies I wouldn't really worry about it.

[Alelou]

I'm not worried. It's actually kind of nice to see something running against the stereotype. I'm just curious about the phenomenon. Spongebob is one thing (I know plenty of adults who still love it). This seems like a more extreme case. Then again, I haven't watched it. Maybe all these pastel-colored ponies are actually acting like ninjas.

[Kotik]

No, they certainly aren't acting like Ninjas. It's more like a 'everything-is-jolly-fine' sort of world. Can you tell I've seen it before ? While no man would ever admit it, things like the ponies or Disney's Gummi Bears or Dora the Explorer hold a certain fascination, even for grown men. I can't really explain it. The notable exception are the teletubbis. Whoever invented those must hate children

[Alelou]

Yeah, I can remember watching Teletubbies as a parent with a toddler and really wondering what those people were smoking.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

The 4 Most Unexpected Fan Bases in Pop Culture

[CX]

I can't stick up very much for this show because I haven't seen it, but before you bash on it too much, you should try giving it a chance, or at least watch this review to understand what the appeal is.

It's not my thing personally, but I can understand people liking good storytelling. Of course I also like to make fun of bronies, but only because a lot of them take things too far and tend to act stupidly, not because they're watching a little girl's cartoon.

[Alelou]

Maybe I bashed the title (come on, can't I bash a title like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? ), but that's it. I haven't seen it either. It must have something going for it or all these young men wouldn't be so into it.

[Asso]

I loved playing with dolls. But even with guns. The important thing is to avoid confusion between the first ones and the others.