Yep. They may be rarer than unicorns, but Men’s Rights Bronies (MRBs) do indeed exist. For proof, see this post on the Men’s Rights subreddit, in which an MR Brony calling himself Bullywar tries to convince fellow MRAs (and MRBs) that the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season two finale (of which the video above is an excerpt) is some sort of grand antifeminist statement from the show’s creators. (Oh, SPOILER ALERT for everything that follows.)
You don’t have to be a brony, or even care for MLP at all to get this – just hear me out. If you don’t care to watch the 44 minute episode, I’ll summarize: an impostor shapeshifting queen disposes of a bride to be in a high-profile wedding and plans to use the groom’s magic against him in a lust for power. The linked song will pretty much get the whole episode’s plot across succinctly enough.
The song juxtaposes the heroine’s desire to complement her groom, and the villain’s desire to subjugate him; even though that (until the climax of the episode) everyone sees the latter as the former. It even references one of feminism’s battle cries for the last lyric in the reprise. Watch the whole episode on Youtube to get a closer look.
To see a wildly popular show aimed at girls, conceived and written by a woman, giving such a message to young girls today strikes me as nothing less than resounding vindication for our cause.
Because feminists are all about marrying dudes and exploiting them?
Happily, other Bronies with less of an ax to grind came along and put Bullywar straight.
CrawdaddyJoe, a critic of MRAs who usually gets downvoted on r/mensrights, garnered himself a few upvotes by noting that
Um…. feminists aren’t plotting to marry you and take your money. That’s not even remotely what feminism is about, and most feminists would find such behavior abhorrent and demeaning. Don’t be a paranoid twit.
Drinkthebleach, an actual MR Brony and Pokemon fan, asked:
Isn’t Lauren Faust [the show’s original Executive Producer] a pretty outspoken feminist? Also you left out the part where they talk about how important it is to have a male influence in your life, when she talks about how much she loves/misses/needs her brother.
RotoSequence, who doesn’t seem to regularly post in r/mensrights, offered a more nuanced analysis of the episode:
This is a ridiculous argument. The entire point of This Day was to illustrate that Chrysalis only wanted posession of Shining Armor because by manipulating his emotions, it gave Chrysalis tremendous power. Cadance and Shining Armor, on the other hand, love each other so much that they want to start a family together while the manipulative, evil Queen plans to take that away from them as collateral damage so that Chrysalis can conquer a land that isn’t hers. If anything, the lesson to take home from the finale is “we’re stronger together than we are apart,” and the corny stalwart “love conquers all.”
At least I assume that’s a more nuanced interpretation. As a non-Brony, I really have no idea.
Unrelated to MR and feminism (well, not quite, given some of the lyrics of the song), this is one of the best things ever.
It also sometimes references adult movies. I squee-d when I saw this I AM NOT ASHAMED
http://ponyvillegazette.com/2011/11/13/my-little-pony-parodies-the-big-lebowski-characters/my_little_pony_friendship_is_magic_parodies_jeff_bridges_the_dude_from_the_big_lebowski/
http://ponyvillegazette.com/2011/11/13/my-little-pony-parodies-the-big-lebowski-characters/my_little_pony_friendship_is_magic_parodies_john_goodman_walter_sobchak_from_the_big_lebowski/
http://ponyvillegazette.com/2011/11/13/my-little-pony-parodies-the-big-lebowski-characters/my_little_pony_friendship_is_magic_parodies_john_turturro_jesus_quintana_from_the_big_lebowski/
I just let through a comment from TheMenAreAngry.
TheMenAreAngry, do you really live in (and post to the internet from) a forest in Yorkshire, England?
Or are you perhaps a TROOOOOOOLLLL?
I wonder if they also tried to use this kind of thing on the season 1 episode ‘Dog and Pony Show’, where Rarity uses feminine manipulation throughout the whole episode to enslave a group of poor males to dig gems for her?
Would that be an anti-feminist exposing of how women are manipulative? or would/did they say it was a training manual for feminist manipulators?
Or, owing to the fact that MRAs can take up any position they want in order to rant about women, probably both.
two of those people are dead, brah
Well, Dworkin and Solanas are dead, so I think their reigns are probably over, not “almost at an end.” But is Santa a MRA now?
Ninja’d by half shark/half Hercules!
To Manboobz: I simply fear for my livelihood.
We live in a state run by Fem-Nazis where men can be denigrated and destroyed for simply speaking out.
I have advanced software to conceal my personal information.
It was a mistake to utilize my real email address. Challenging the Feminized status quo is dangerous.
For this reason, with your blessing I will now be using a fake email.
And seriously, would it kill MRAs to spell Solanas correctly?
And is there some sort style guide to MRA commenting that requires lines between paragraphs? He’s just about at Dennis Markuze/David Mabus levels of text formatting.
I hope they don’t shout or cry, as it would herald the zombie uprising, and that’s like my least favourite Buffy episode.
Twilight Sparkle x Rainbow Dash OTP (Yes, in that order)
——————-
@David: Technically, he could just be really scared of the black helicopters. Just because NWO is too incompetent to use a proxy doesn’t mean he wouldn’t. Of course…
I’m going to bet this is pell, since he tends to post from forests and this is obviously debunked in the OP. XD
I tried to use MLP imagery in a presentation recently, only to be shot down by my male co-presenter. Now I know he was merely trying to keep them pure, untainted by my feminazism. Unless “F. Nazis” stands for “fucking Nazis?” MLP as the last bulwark against fascism is an attractive notion. I can just picture Woody Guthrie with a “This pony kills fascists” t-shirt…
felixBC: He’s just about at Dennis Markuze/David Mabus levels of text formatting.
And approaching the coherence levels of David “GOATS ON FIRE!!!” Markuze, which is saying something.
Maybe he’s a Forest Troll. Is that a thing?
I knew there would be people at this mangina crotch site who would take issue with the hard truth.
Just remember: The Fem-Nazis and their prickstick collaborators can do nothing.
That is, you can do nothing.
Men are tired of the denigration, the hatred, the vilification.
We are tired of Andrea Dworkin and her acolytes that now run the media.
The bloodless revolution begins now.
Manboobz: You can silence me if you want, with your moderation.
You can do that.
Or you can be honest, that I am a harbinger.
Of times to come.
It will be less painful (metaphorical) that way- trust me.
Sheltering yourself and your lackeys does not help. Because you will be stopped either way.
So- blinkered ignorance, or Truth? You decide.
But just remember- the others who chose ignorance. Slave Owners. Joseph Stalin. Jim Jones. Gaddafi.
Hmmm?
Seems to be.
I’m imagining that he has a soundtrack playing in his head while he posts. Some thing like the ride of the Valkyrie, with machine guns from a black helicopter over the rice paddies of Vietnam, but a sudden record screech and it switches over to tinkly Santa Claus is coming to town. Then I get a vision of Daffy Duck singing Kill the Rabbit, Kill the Rabbit, and I really need to get another hobby besides reading this stuff.
Is it just me or do a lot of MRAs write like they are to gender studies what that timecube guy is to physics?
By which I mean TheMenAreAngry. The MRA brony dude just sounds like an English undergrad who hasn’t figured out yet that an unconventional or eccentric reading of a text doesn’t automatically get you a higher grade.
My axe hungers for battle so all this talk of “revolution” excites me, but I’m not sure what exactly men are “revolting” against. I am quite certain that Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch are not acolytes of Andrea Dworkin.
“Gender Studies” as it stands seems to me a sham.
Got your attention.
Yes, a sham- to make people think that women (or Dworkinites) are marginalized.
The are not.
They rule.
And to the manginas, even the most deferential crotch mewlers…. they will come for you in the end. Make no mistake.
Because you have committed the ultimate crime- having a penis.
Manboobz. Hugo Schwyzer. Barry Deutsch. Michael Kimmel.
Watch yourselves.
It’s almost your turn.
Unless you join us, and fight back.
Crotch mewlers? GREAT band name.
@SomeMenAreCranky- Gotcha. If I don’t join you then women – and not just any women; women who who totally rule – will come for me.
The jokes – they just write themselves.
The MRAs are definitely taking over the world any minute now.
Just like they were last week, and the week before.