Who is brony

Stern only airs interviews with Bronies who were Cloppers, making it appear as if all Bronies are Cloppers. Bronies are thus forced to manage the stigma associated with their identity. A common strategy for managing the Brony stigma is distancing. Bronies tend to put Cloppers aside in their own category that is not representative of the Brony fandom. They recognize that Cloppers exist but distance themselves from Cloppers by claiming that pony pornography is not what being a Brony is about.

He has a knowledge of the stigma, so he does not overtly express his Brony identity, but he is not ashamed of the identity either. Although the Brony stigma only describes a minority of Bronies, anyone in the fandom must find their own way of managing the stigma. Ellis, Bill. Gilbert, Anne. Hautakangas, Mikko. My Little Pony and Brony Masculinity. Kozlovska, Kristyna. Mountford, J. How can adult males watch a show for girls? Phase 2 Pfft. I'll see what all the fuss is about, maybe make fun of the show.

Phase 3 Meh. It was okay. It wasn't that bad, I'll give it that. Phase 4 It's actually kind of funny and entertaining. Phase 5 I take back everything bad I've said! Phase 6 Friendship is Magic!

Screw it! I'm a brony! Phase 7 I'm dead serious, you should watch My Little Pony, too. Hater You guys are all gay freaks I'll never watch that. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to jerk off while lifting weights and playing video games all day to pretend to be a man.

Fans of an animated cartoon created by feminist Lauren Faust , started in and premiered on The Hub. The show is primarily targeted towards little girls, but has somehow gained a disgusting cult following of older, single, "virgin4life" males that call themselves " bronies ".

They are considered to be the scum of the internet, or simply Internet Cancer. After seeing so much opposition on 4Chan, bronies moved on to create PonyChan, an image board just for My Little Pony related content.

During this initial boom of pony popularity countless blogs, image boards, and other websites were created along with the use of virtually every popular social media website on the internet.

As the brony community grew and expanded into the rest of the internet, 4Chan later created a brand new board just for ponies and welcomed the community back with open arms. By this time ponies had already begun to take over the internet As with many memes spawned from 4chan, ponies rapidly spread around the world; but this time was different. While plenty of memes gain popularity from a simple sharable image macro, ponies represented an actively airing television show where each new episode introduced new phrases or other memorable moments.

Fans found themselves drawn to the minimal yet expressive nature of the characters, the lore-filled depth of the world they lived in, and of course the humorously ironic nature of a bunch of grown adults and teenagers enjoying a show originally intended for seven year-old girls.

The early My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes were enjoyable for what they are, but as bronies became an inescapable phenomenon the creators of the show quickly joined in on the fun. Staff interactions with the fandom became regular online and at events, and soon references intended for the older fans made their way into the show itself.

The quality of the show and the attention it received by early fans was already a powerful force, but it became evermore potent once the show started to recognize bronies. Not even the internet could contain the excitement and passion of the bronies. Fandom organizers created the first brony convention in with the first big convention to see thousands of attendees taking place the very next year in This convention was aptly named "BronyCon" and as years went by their annual attendance grew from a couple hundred fans to over ten-thousand.

Not only that, but other brony conventions unrelated to BronyCon also took place all around the world. Ponies reached every continent , and even the international space station. Many long-time fans remember this period of time as the height of bronydom, as it felt like everyone was taking part in the pony party in some way.

Musicians created iconic remixes, popular YouTubers made references, people's profile pictures became ponies, and everywhere you looked on the internet there was a pony to be found. However, this "meme status" of the show was only the beginning as fans settled in for the long haul. The explosive popularity of bronies was viewed by many as a fad; a silly meme which couldn't possibly persist. Even most bronies were surprised as the show continued to announce new seasons, spin-offs, and other official media.

Comparisons could be made to other long-lasting communities such as Trekkies or Furries, but the brony community is truly unique because of its unbelievably passionate following and incredible amount of fan-made media; all for a single cartoon originally made for little girls.

Anything and everything can be ponified. That combined with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic quickly becoming one of the longest-running modern cartoons gave the community immense staying power. Interest in brony began to rise in March—April of , though references existed as early as December A portmanteau of bro and pony , it references male fans of the show. Google Trends interest spiked in July , the same month over 4, fans gathered in New Jersey for the second annual BronyCon.

Brony , by the very nature of the word, refers to specifically male fans, though some women use the term to refer to themselves. Another term, pegasister exists as an alternate feminine form. As one of the Urban Dictionary entries for the term points out, pegasister is not a term that is universally accepted or used among the fan community in the way that brony is. As bronies gained attention and the word became more widespread, so did their fandom. While the technical meaning of brony has remained the same, the larger connotation of brony fandom definitely evolved.