Pollack 1

Devon Pollack
Professor Kaz
English 114B
19 March 2015
Brony Misconceptions
The show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic stresses the importance of treating
everyone equally with love and tolerance. Bronies, (bro and ponies) are a growing portion of the
My Little Pony fan base. They consist of men, usually high school and college students, who love
the show. Many bronies have come forward stating that they have never felt loved or tolerated.
Unfortunately, many of these fans get harassed. Some common misconceptions that are faced
within the brony subculture is that the show is for females only causing experiences involving
racial slurs, sexism, and even assault. If one thing can be said for males, it is that they brought a
greater level of media attention to My Little Pony and its fandom. One could certainly argue that
My Little Pony is indebted to a female interest, as the show aimed as a product for females.
However, the media frequently refers to adult fans of the show, but fails to acknowledge
that females can be integrated to the fandom designated for males. This has resulted in articles
arguing that bronies is only for males. These classifications have resulted in racial slurs, rape
jokes, and sexism problems within this subculture. There is nothing inherently wrong with males
enjoying a cartoon directed at young girls. This could be seen as a very positive thing because

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men are willing to embrace something that is viewed as feminine in a society that mocks
anything considered to be girlish.
In one of the articles that I read named Accusations of racism, sexism at brony
convention hit Tumblr it explains My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a show that stresses
the importance of treating everyone with love and tolerance. There was a convention that
hundreds of bronies attended called Everfree Northwest. Several days after the convention,
stories were trickling onto Tumblr and Twitter about negative experiences involving sexism,
assault, and racial slurs. Two Tumblr blogs, Sane My Little Pony Fan and Truth about Everfree,
are documenting fans stories of harassment. One was including one where a brony choked
another fan after misunderstanding a joke between friends that attended the convention.
Unfortunately, behavior like this occurs at brony conventions.
An attendee and Tumblr user mjolkk said she experienced a sexist and racist environment
while at Everfree. She stated when I complained to a staffer about the rape jokes during one of
the panels, they just shrugged and told me to deal with it (Accusations of racism, sexism at
brony convention hit Tumblr). Mjolkk was not okay after hearing this from a staffer because this
convention was supposed to be a friendly experience, not a place where inappropriate jokes are
made. She posted her complaint on Twitter, which received 2,000 re-blogs and explicit hate
messages. Unfortunately, verbal and physical harassment are not uncommon at fan conventions.
Also, there was another issue at the brony convention. BronyCon's transgender founder
and former Everfree supporter said she no longer promotes the convention. She discovered

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some of the organizers endorsed participants in online bullying in which some referred to her as
a tranny" (Accusations of racism, sexism at brony convention hit Tumblr). This is an unfortunate
image problem for a fandom about love and tolerance to have. Just because men like the show
that does not mean that they should be sexually abused.
Additionally, sexual jokes were made after an individual decided to create an original
character named Princess Molestia, based off the character Princess Celestia. However, Tumblr
took the form of an ask blog where fans would submit questions or story requests. Their requests
would be answered in a comic book style drawing. The horse was shown graphically raping and
molesting other ponies from the show, including her own sister (B Is For Bronies). A woman
began speak up against the blog, which caused her to receive large amounts of brony hate for
helping to delete Ask Princess Molestia. Multiple hate blogs were dedicated to her. Blogs like
Princess Molestia that show graphic sex is something that hurts the My Little Pony image
section. This has caused this childrens show to no longer be safe for its audience.
Max Veers, a brony, has had a troubled history for being caught assaulting an underage
teenager. Veers went around badmouthing the girl on his Tumblr stating how she was worthless
and clearly deserved what she got (B Is For Bronies). The author of this article, Shannon
Richards goes on to link eighteen different posts where other Bronies tried to defend Max Veers
actions.
Additionally, a brony documentary Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of
My Little Pony was created to show the stories of bronies who love the show and use it to
escape difficulties in their lives. This show was put on Netflix and people complained that there

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was nothing mentioned about the harmful aspects that have developed from this subculture. In
the documentary a phrase coming out of the stable was used. This phrase is used as an attack
for the LGBT community. People have used this phrase and turned it into a joke. However, there
are multiple issues in the documentary. The film barely speaks about the numerous contributions
to the fandom by women. Another issue it contains is that the film shows that bronies are a
severely oppressed group of social outcasts (B Is For Bronies). This is not fair to assume that
bronies do not fit in with society because people are judging them just for their interests.
Issues of racism and sexism jokes took place for no reason at another convention. This
also ended up on Tumblr. Tumblr user askjoehoofer you can call me mean as much as you want,
but it doesnt change the fact that this weekend, I saw some of the most ill-behaved, rude, and
disgustingly backwards people (My Little Pony: Hate is Magic). He is basically saying the
convention was ruined because of the behavior that was allowed. There were rape jokes and
racial slurs that should not have been allowed at a convention.
Being a teen or adult male who watches My Little Pony could also be described as
transgressive. This is a problem because there is a sense of rebellion liking a show aimed at
young girls. My Little Pony fandom is a place where gender expectations are thrown aside. It
becomes a culture where anything goes, and the sense of progress seen in the broad fan base
becomes poisonous (My Little Pony: Hate is Magic). Changing the idea that a girl who likes
feminine things is shallow and that a guy who likes feminine things is appalling. Liking whatever
you want to like should be acceptable in this subculture. In this society, it is unfortunate that
people do not receive praise for liking something he or she is interested in. A culture of
transgression and cruelty can only exist if others condone that behavior.

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Having gathered personal research for this subculture, some humbling information was
received in a survey. During the process of gathering personal research many people said some
encouraging thoughts about this subculture. Both males and females have heard of the TV show
My Little Pony, which was remarkable to hear. However, some of them did not know what the
term brony is. Both males and females said that the show could be aimed for males too
(Pollack). Also, many of the interviewees said that age is not an issue and many watched this
show when they were younger (Pollack). After conducting personal research many interviewees
have different opinions than those who wrote articles based on the brony subculture.
As an activist for this subculture some of my ideas can be compared to those of Jason Del
Gandios novel Rhetoric for Radicals. This novel can help as an activist sharpen messages to
help stop sexism and racial slurs. The author states in his section of Body Rhetoric speakers use
their bodies to further communicate their messages while adapting to the wants, needs, and
expectations to the audience (Jason Del Gandio 147). After reading this section, it helped me
become an activist for this subculture. Your body is a message that others constantly read and
respond to (Del Gandio 147). The way someone acts can help show people more about the
subculture, which can help prevent sexism and racial slurs.
In conclusion, many misconceptions are faced within this subculture. Racial slurs,
sexism, and even assault need to discontinue in order for bronies to be comfortable with
something they are interested in. Gender slurs and racial jokes has evidently become an
imbalance in the fandom. Bronies need to find a way to seize back control of their fandom that is
known for being love and tolerated.

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Works Cited
Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists.
Gabriola Island, BC: New Society, 2008. Print.
Orsini, Lauren. "Accusations of Racism, Sexism at Brony Convention Hit Tumblr." The
Daily Dot. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
Pollack, Devon. " Brony Subculture Survey." Print. 6 Mar. 2015.
Richards, Shannon. "B Is For Bronies." UCLA's Feminist Newsmagazine. N.p., n.d. Web.
19 Feb. 2015.
Thomas, Rhiannon. "My Little Pony: Hate Is Magic." Feminist Fiction. N.p., n.d. Web.
19 Feb. 2015.

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Annotated Bibliography
Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists. Gabriola
Island, BC: New Society, 2008. Print. As part of my research paper, I am using a book
called "Rhetoric for Radicals" written by Jason Del Gandio. His novel provides
practical guidelines for public speaking, writing, conversation, persuasion, political
correctness, propaganda analysis, street theatrics, and new languages. The section that
I will focus mainly on is the "Body Rhetoric" because we communicate messages and
arguments, which will be explained in my paper. This book will also appeal to activists
who want to sharpen their messages.
Orsini, Lauren. "Accusations of Racism, Sexism at Brony Convention Hit Tumblr." The Daily
Dot. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. The article "Accusations of Racism, Sexism at
Brony Convention Hit Tumblr" written by Lauren Orsini explains how the show My
Little Pony stresses the importance of treating everyone with love and tolerance. This
article also explains the issues that happened at the convention. Harassment took place
at this convention and many sexist jokes occurred. I can use this article to help me
with my research because it will help me explain how the brony subculture endures
issues, whereas people think everything is okay within this brony fandom.
Pollack, Devon. " Brony Subculture Survey." Print. 6 Mar. 2015. As part of my
research paper I interviewed a group of people for my primary source. I created a
survey and asked people a few questions about what they think of the brony

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subculture. For example, I asked questions regarding sexism, gender, and age. I will
use my information I gathered throughout my research paper and compare it with my
other sources.
Richards, Shannon. "B Is For Bronies." UCLA's Feminist Newsmagazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb.
2015. In the article "B Is For Bronies," the author Shannon Richards discusses how the
show My Little Pony has a brony fandom and that there is nothing wrong with males
enjoying a show directed for young girls. Richards explains how a blog with a
character named Princess Molestia was graphically doing inappropriate actions
towards other ponies. The article also discusses how a documentary left out the
negative effects of the fandom. This article definitely supports my research, in which
the briny fandom does have issues that need to be resolved.
Thomas, Rhiannon. "My Little Pony: Hate Is Magic." Feminist Fiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb.
2015. Rhiannon Thomas' article "My Little Pony: Hate is Magic" discusses how there
was controversy at a convention for the briny fandom. There were issues of racism and
sexism jokes that took place for no reason. The word "transgressive" is also a problem
for this fandom because people think it is just a show for young girls. This article can
be really helpful in my research because Thomas explains the issues this subculture
faces really well with the details she uses to explain what happened at the convention.