It's funny when people see something and immediately think of you. With me it's peacocks, anything turquoise and, sigh, Bronies. Yes, I have a bit of reputation when it comes to the Brony phenomenon due to the article I wrote about them on MOMfia last year. The post blew up on the site, and the Bronies came out in herds (haha - get it?) to defend themselves.

At first I let these kids (?) explain their side of the story and welcomed their comments that were desperately trying to prove me wrong. Cries of "we just love the animation" and "the story lines are aimed at adults" were thrown out and most of the initial comments were innocent -  Bronies just trying to prove that they were NOT wanting to have sex with animated rainbow horses or children. Then the comments turned a bit nasty, and we decided to shut them off. But that doesn't stop the Bronies from emailing me on a regular basis telling me I'm a closed minded, uptight bitch.

I will admit, there for awhile I thought maybe I was. And that kinda horrified me. 

I did make a jump to associating Bronies with child molestation and that, in hindsight, may have been too harsh. Because a grown person likes rainbows, hearts and talking horses does not mean they want to have sex with children. I get it. It was pure MOM-paranoia. And if this subculture really was not hurting kids, why should I care what these older men (and women) are doing in their free time? I really didn't mean to be overly dramatic about the whole thing... or come off so judgmental. I really just thought that this was an important thing for other moms to know, because YOU NEVER KNOW. Right?

RIGHT?

10 months after writing that article I was on a long call with AT&T Tech Support. In an attempt to keep Zoe entertained, I gave her my iPad and set her down on my bed while I argued with the tech support not 10 feet away. I've talked about what a digital child Zoe is before; She's 4 years old and can navigate an iPad better than most baby boomers. In fact, a recent tantrum was sparked because I refused to give her my password to iTunes. 

Seriously. She wanted to buy an app and I wouldn't let her. Hello, Being 4 in 2012: This is what you look like. 

So, Zoe was playing with the iPad and I heard something about Rarity and Pinky Pie in the background. She does have a few episodes of the show on my iPad in addition to the My Little Pony app, so nothing that raised suspicion. Until I heard a distinct male voice saying something about petting ponies. I ran over as fast as I could and grabbed the iPad from her hot little hands while screaming "NO YOUTUBE!" But it was too late. The "damage" was done... 

The ironic part? She wasn't watching something made by a Brony - but a cartoon called "My Little Bronies" by College Humor, which, in fact, pokes fun at the Brony subculture. 

Yes, I'm well aware that the Bronies reading this right now are smiling and muttering things about "karma being a bitch"...

While my main fear of the Brony fandom was my innocent daughter finding sexualy explicit MLP YouTube videos, in actuality I was left trying to explain to a 4 year old why a grown man has a collection of ponies and why Rarity and Pinkie Pie were trying to run away from him.

Quite literally when it came to the Bronies,  I had nothing to fear but the fear itself. 

I was Cher Horowitz about the Bronies until you wrote that initial post. The whole thing still gives me the creeps. Do the Care Bears have a similar following? Eek.

Well...that's what you get for accusing male fans of My Little Pony of being sex-craved pedophiles.

Even the tiny (weird) subset of Bronies that have a sexual fetish for MLP definitely don't have it for little girls: the characters in MLP are adult ponies. They want to have sex with talking ponies, not kids.

And here's the key part: *THE VAST MAJORITY OF MALE FANS OF THE SHOW ARE IN THE 16-25 YEAR RANGE, AND ARE NOT GROWN OR MARRIED MEN.* It's no different than being a fan of Powerpuff Girls or Pokemon, which are both very popular in that age group among males and females.

Not every 'adult fan' of this show is a creepy fool, but some of them are.

Anything and everything can be corrupted by the internet and those who live on it. In such cases, it is always best to err on the side of caution.

I wanted to leave a message on your MOMfia article. I actually used your article in an academic essay about Bronys changing what defines masculine and feminine. Needless to say your artlicle was used as the Anti-Brony, which I rebuttled with Rebecca Angel from Geekmom's article "In Defense of Bronies". You should read that article too. Your article did somewhat make me upset as I'm a single father with a 5 year old daughter and 2 year old son. They both watch the show and I usually watch it with them. I love the show for what messages it brings and that it doesn't promote gender stereo-types. I even play ponys with her, and I have no diobolical thoughts in my mind. I did laugh when I saw that your husband jumped to your defense on his blog. I knew that would come, and it wasn't especially professional on ether of your approtches on the topic. Please become aware and stop throwing around the word pedophile or child molester, its a destructive term if used as a weapon. Its really a shame that if any grown man is interesting in anything that the corperation drivin pop culture decides as "For girls" be labled as a pedophile. Men aren't always at fault ether, some women are just as bad as the male perverts. MSNBC states women are more likely to kill children then men are. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42634832/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
I don't believe that we should stereotype by genders anymore, its the state of mind of the person not whats between their legs.

Below I have pasted the definition of "Rule 34" from urbandictionary.com on internet pornography. This is true, there exists pornographic material for anything from Tellitubbies to Harry Potter. Its not just guys drawing this pornographic art, but women as well. You can't just judge one sub-culture by the pornographic artwork, these perverts probably make up 5% of the total following.

Rule 34
Generally accepted internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject.
Additionally it is accepted that the rule itself has limitations and you cannot be too specific on the content of the item in question.
Most commonly used on various message boards for various reasons, from humor to cruelty.

I am glad that you have somewhat come to see that being a Brony doesn't promote the touching of children. It's a wierd sub culture, and promotes ideas which are strange to most. But compared to most other things today, Bronys should not be your biggest concern as most of them are just harmless geeks. I'd be more worried about Juggalos who religiously follow the teachings of two rapping "insaine murdering clowns" called Insain Clown Posse, kids who try to live the "Gangster" life style, and the people at your local daycare.
Lets just have a little love and tollerance for our fellow person.. enjoy the freedom we have been given to express ourselves in what way we ever choose (as long as its within the law). I've served 10 years in the US Army and I have no problem with Bronies.