What are at least 3 things do you think the brony fandom needs to be called out on or improve upon? Three one word answers are enough, no explanation needed unless you have a lot to get off of your chest. And I would prefer you publish so people can see it.
Oh man, if that isn’t a can of worms. Let’s consider Pandora’s Box opened, shall we? Gratuitous amounts of generalization and stereotyping ahead. (Noted, just so I can avoid the inevitable people that will scream “but I’m not like that!”)
The brony fandom needs to collectively realize that it isn’t God’s gift to fandoms. They/We are not special; the problems we face are not somehow inherently unique to us, and the things we do/contribute are not so awesome as to put us above any kind of criticism.
Crazy as it might sound, it shouldn’t take “guts” or “balls” to simply like something girly or femmy - the entire point is that the show is good standalone; we shouldn’t need to justify it or qualify it to feel good about liking it.
It’s a bit against the grain, sure, but we don’t get brownie points for that, nor should we. The whole idea that “coming out” as a fan is somehow even remotely comparable to “coming out” as homosexual, or transgender, etc (as some people have alluded to) is self-congratulatory, and totally ludicrous. The only reason critics act like being a pony lover is a big deal is because bronies act like it’s a big deal.
I added My Little Pony to the lexicon of shows I enjoy back in early 2011, and I’ve never acted like it was weird or “alternative” to like it; my enjoyment has always been in earnest, and I’ve never had any kind of issues with myself for it. Critics can’t really poke holes in me over it because I’ve never felt insecure about it.
Anyone that says sexism isn’t/hasn’t been a serious problem hasn’t been paying attention.
Relating back to point one, because so many male bronies, en masse, feel like they deserve special recognition for liking something girly, they do not  feel like girls deserve any recognition for doing the same. After all, they’re the ones breaking normative gender roles, while the girls are just reinforcing them, right?
The brony fandom began as a sort of internet “boys-only-club” (on 4chan nonetheless) as it was the only way for young men that felt insecure about their enjoyment of the show to congregate and be earnest about their liking it.Â
Since the most basic roots of the fandom were laid by dudes telling other dudes it was okay to like pink shit and think Rainbow Dash was cute without fear of criticism, most of the founding attitudes were/are very male-centric. While this led to a very honest sense of camaraderie and brotherhood among early fans (i.e. that bronyism was counterculture, at least for males), this, in conjunction with the very open nature of the fandom, has had very problematic repercussions as it’s grown and expanded.
The brony fandom, when effectively small, and contained to places like 4chan, in my experience, functioned much like a male safe-space, and many bronies, even the newer “converts,” still act with this MO in mind, so it is absolutely no surprise to me that many of them are wary of, or even outright cruel to women “invading” what they consider “their” space.
This is probably, also, why there are so many disgruntled female “anti-bronies.”
Even as I type this I can already hear the whir of fingers buzzing across keyboards worldwide, as many would-be keyboard warriors fire up indignant responses to me. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s people that stir up negativity simply for its own sake.
While everybody is always entitled to her/his opinion, no single opinion is rendered more or less valid than anyone else’s by virtue of indignation or aforementioned self-righteousness. And while I suppose that this is more of an observation of people on the internet in general, it still applies to this little microcosm of web space we called the “brony fandom.”
Discussions on the internet can be very fruitful, assuming the parties involved can set aside their respective egos, and respectfully raise objections, backed by evidence or logic. Internet arguments, however, are totally futile (something that’s taken me a while to learn, admittedly), and just leaves all sides feeling more alienated and angry than when they began.
Bronies (and Anti-Bronies for that matter) need to collectively look past the chips on their shoulders and discover healthy ways to respond to things that make them uncomfortable (like criticism,) or, even, if that means not responding at all. This alone would spare us 80% of the needless vitriol and “drama” that gets spewed our way. Critics only become powerful because people give them power, and it is completely within the realm of possibility to listen to a critic without totally surrendering to him/her.Â
Listening to and thoughtfully considering an opinion doesn’t automatically mean one has to agree with it. In fact, if there is a list of under-utilized sentences in the English language, my favorite is: “I can see where you’re coming from, but I don’t agree.”
Humility, Patience, and Respect.
