We have a group. We get a sense of each other based on our interactions. Those things show us that stereotypes and stories about other types of people may have some coincidences, but may be complete lies. I have a young niece. she is just getting of the age of liking My Little Pony. I am a person who loves cartoons, and I love the My little pony universe and what it became. I am not into sexualization or porn of the MLP characters. That is not to say a little bit of non-sexual relationship ship fan romance doesn't interest me, but it is a fucking kids cartoon and the feelings are warm and feelings. I separate my smut from my cuddling PDAs. I am speaking of this as an adult to adults so maybe the mods can keep federal farmer from coming in. Thanks a bunch. So no one else in the family knows what MLP is all about. They will catch on eventually due to her exposing them, but for now she is talking to me about it. I waited to see if it hit her view and all of a sudden I have something to talk to her about. My family gets it that I just like cute shit, and the people who care about MLP are mostly going to be kids her age. I get a little iffy on talking to bronies myself as things can go down the smut or gore road. I am not showing my niece cupcakes. I specifically made a new account on youtube just to scrub the algorithm in planning for this. If someone from the right saw me dressing up in pastel pony stuff and playing with the kid they might automatically assume I am grooming despite the reality I have battled against sexualizing and molesting children in the animated community for a long time. People have to understand I am not alone and there are many GLBT people around who are concerned about children being at GLBT smut events. That only comes from exposure which is not something that lots of people know they have. Worse yet, the act of being closeted becomes deceptive for other people comfort, but that still looks shady. Yes, we do things in the dark where you can't see them because cishet people get triggered. The liars latch onto that and say that means we are shady when we really would rather be open as a straight person is. The right is not letting glbt people be open, and then they are using the attempt to be private to make it seem like gay people are deceptive. It cuts twice, which is why it becomes important to expose people to GLBT people in media and life so they can see the nonsexual positive representation of the community and to confront the lies that are peddled in our absence. Don't think the haters don't know this. It is the same thing they do to black and brown people. It is the same thing they have done to foreigners. Itr is the same thing they do to people of different religions. They even try to do it to the different genders, and that goes across all levels of society. Think about it, women are often portrayed as deceptive, mysterious, manipulative, and secretive. It isd a part of the playbook and it is important that cishet people realize they are constantly being lied to from their own people to demonize the GLBT community. This is why just being GLBT is considered adult and censored.
Tagging @Amaris in as I'm sure she would be the best person to contribute some productive feedback to this conversation being in the MLP fandom in it's heyday. But yes to all of this
100%. I remember talking to a family member about liking MLP, and one of the first things they said was "I won't have to watch my kids will I?" Yeah, it's some total bullshit getting thrown our way by conservatives. I'm trans, I'm pansexual, and I love My Little Pony, and I would never harm a child. Hell, while there are always going to be outliers in any fandom, most Bronies I know are extremely protective of kids (the older Bronies, anyway). Many of them are doctors, lawyers, soldiers, and so on, and a great many of them are gay, lesbian, non-binary, or transgender, too. Our culture has started crisscrossing history now, with not only a Red Scare for people who dare to ask for medical care that doesn't bankrupt them, but it has been embracing fascism for some time, reminiscing about old stories of the gay menace. It's frustrating because I adore kids. I connect with kids. I wanted to be a teacher for a long time because I enjoyed interacting with them, and giving them new knowledge, and having fun being an adult they could joke with that wouldn't admonish them for imperfect manners, yet because I'm pansexual, because I'm trans, because I like shows such as My Little Pony, and I like pink and purple, and soft things instead of what I have been assigned by others, somehow I'm the one that has to be watched rather than, say, a man who walks in on little girls at a beauty pageant, or one who gropes kids in full view of others to their great discomfort. But on the subject of MLP, again, yeah, when Bronies first started to crop up, there were a lot of news agencies looking at us like we were just wanting to go right out there and fuck their kids, because why else would adults enjoy a cartoon? It can't possibly be for any other reason in their twisted brains, and so they assumed the worst. It was an issue on TBBS for a while, too, though after a bit that calmed down, but still, the assumption was there, because people didn't know how to react to a suddenly positive, pro-empathy, pro-sharing, pro-love, pro-kindness, pro-friendship group of young men and women who liked pastel colored ponies. They didn't know how to handle it, so they did what they did best: assumed the worst, and raised the mob, and we're swinging back around to it again. I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better. Still am!
You know who doesn't give a fuck what you think, Johnny? All the chicks you never had a shot with during you bloated existence. And it's not going to get any better going forward.
