One final video drives the point of how gender and sex are ingrained in society when a young boy (roughly 10 years old) compares the fandom with gay subculture, illustrating how constructions of gender have been modeled for him. Bussey and Bandura suggest, “A great deal of gender-linked information is exemplified by models in one’s immediate environment such as parents and peers, and significant persons in social, educational, and occupational contexts.” His experiences with social relationships inform his perspective on gender performance, reifying the binary when he states, “I know that it’s not straight, not normal for a male to watch My Little Pony.”
Accusations of homosexuality by friends, family, and complete strangers is one layer of allegations fans contend with, however, there are insinuations of zoophilia. Linking Bronies sexual practices with animals is an argument circulating against the fandom. One young man from Illinois recounts a coworker becoming visibly angry at …show more content…
One Brony from California recollects of an incident in which a “Friend [offered] to paint a horse pink so that I can "get intimate" with it.” Another mid-20s Brony from Maryland was accused for having a fetish for “pony porn.” Some of these responses closely coincide with the more vitriolic fag identity; however, they demonstrate how masculinity, in terms of maturity and heteronormativity, becomes contentious when the fandom disrupts contemporary understandings of gender norms.
Dominant forms of masculinity become ubiquitous through repetitive condemnations on the prospect of failure, resulting in the notion of an emasculated apparition that traditional concepts of masculinity use to reinforce gender boundaries. Beyond those boundaries of gender normative masculinity is the “constitutive outside” Butler describes as facets of marginalized identity deemed unappealing within a
Accusations of homosexuality by friends, family, and complete strangers is one layer of allegations fans contend with, however, there are insinuations of zoophilia. Linking Bronies sexual practices with animals is an argument circulating against the fandom. One young man from Illinois recounts a coworker becoming visibly angry at …show more content…
One Brony from California recollects of an incident in which a “Friend [offered] to paint a horse pink so that I can "get intimate" with it.” Another mid-20s Brony from Maryland was accused for having a fetish for “pony porn.” Some of these responses closely coincide with the more vitriolic fag identity; however, they demonstrate how masculinity, in terms of maturity and heteronormativity, becomes contentious when the fandom disrupts contemporary understandings of gender norms.
Dominant forms of masculinity become ubiquitous through repetitive condemnations on the prospect of failure, resulting in the notion of an emasculated apparition that traditional concepts of masculinity use to reinforce gender boundaries. Beyond those boundaries of gender normative masculinity is the “constitutive outside” Butler describes as facets of marginalized identity deemed unappealing within a