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.
Having been born and raised in heathen anti-civilization wherein women do indeed “rule”—quite literally in those tribes that have queens, though my own tribe is organized horizontally and led by consensus—I can vouch that women in non-Amazonian society are on the whole not a dominant group. MRAs would not exist without the patriarchy—their grievances always center on frustration over not having something to which a patriarchal capitalist culture tells them they ought to be entitled. Be that sex, a conventionally attractive woman to call their own and show off, money, “respect,” or just attention.
Tom?
Throughout history, most oppressors have been backed by military force. Adolph Hittler. Joseph Stalin. Napolleon.
Our situation is somewhat different. Now, instead of a military boot, we toil under the yoke of a spiky black fuck-me heel. Face ground into the dirt. Stripped of our clothes and our dignity, testicles gripped and twisted painfully in a contemptuous hand. Whispering mockingly in our ear, how worthless we are, how we can never make up for our penis, the sins of our fathers.
But we can throw off this yoke. The first step is recognition.
Hittler and Napolleon are wondering about their extra consonants. Recognize that!
*pats TheMenAreAngry on the head*
You have fun with that.
I sometimes wonder if NWO isn’t the Time Cube Guy
Hm, that image reminds me of SOMEONE’s avatar…
@AManIsTetchy “Now, instead of a military boot, we toil under the yoke of a spiky black fuck-me heel.”
Dude, stop. Your paranoid fantasies are starting to turn me on, and that’s not doing either of us any good.
@TheMenareAngry
you know if you have a dominatrix fetish it’s ok…we don’t judge here
Also, watch for mixed metaphors. Toiling under a yoke, or crushed by a bootheel, but not both in the same sentence.
I can never tell MRA strawmen from real MRAs.If you posted Angry Boy’s comment on the Spearhead, it would get a ton of upvotes.
But it need not always be this way.
We can throw off the female yoke.
As it is now, the heel grinds into our spine, crushing us down. A hand crushes our face into the mud, stifling our voices.
But Hittler, Stalin, Benito- they did the same.
And they lost.
Oppression is unsustainable.
Now that’s better composed metaphorical imagery.
Cliched as Hell, but hey, baby steps.
I only wish repetition was unsustainable.
Who is Hittler?
Nappy gets a bad rap for only being slightly better than his peers. I mean yes, he’s trolling, but this doesn’t seem tob e the how and why.
fucking tight ass oppressor
Does the name pell sound familiar to you my good sir?
OT but Lol http://xkcd.com/1049/
Won’t someone please think of the poor oppressed tight asses?
Oh those tight oppressive asses…
“I can never tell MRA strawmen from real MRAs. If you posted Angry Boy’s comment on the Spearhead, it would get a ton of upvotes.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
My impression is that the Time Cube guy is schizophrenic or has some similar condition, and it makes me uncomfortable that people have interviewed him and invited him to lecture just to laugh at his expense.
Whoa, I thought TheMenAreAngry was a parody of some sort made by regulars here. And found it very amusing until David asked if the poster was perhaps a troll.
Awkward.
But I do, um, find it alarming and sad that anyone would feel their gender so thoroughly reviled and rejected in the surrounding society that they would illustrate the situation with a “contemptuous hand” gripping and twisting their testicles.
If he really is… For real… (Does anyone that’s ever seen any of Andrea Dworkin’s writings think she might control the media with an iron fist?)
So Mr. Forest Troll, I’m sorry if you feel that the media associates your penis with guilt of past travesties committed by men. It’s a cruel and unrealistic way of thinking (it really, really is). Your penis should be allowed to be an individual penis that wouldn’t be judged because of others of its kind. Also, anti-male rhetoric in the media should be paid more attention to. These are important talking points. Thanks.
But I think people should be extra, extra careful when they are comparing others to Joseph Stalin, Jim Jones, Gaddafi, Hittler and Benito. At the same time. It can get confusing, as these people really had quite different agendas and… well, everything.
(Here’s some food, little troll…)
I don’t think he is for real since I am pretty sure its another troll pell. (terrible spelling/appeared right after pell was banned/hidden ip)
@jumbofish
A million times yes.
Also telling: “fucking tight ass oppressor”. :3 Oh God can’t stop laughing…