Welcome back to my blog where I talk about... Whatever I feel like. Today, I talk about the big one. As fellow Bronies, we have all probably talked about this in the past, or at least looked on in either curiosity or disgust. It is the biggest thing our fandom is criticized for. I am referring to of course; 'Clop', or 'Clopping'.

For the few of you who may not know what that is, 'Clopping' is when someone pleasures him/herself to explicit art of characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. As the subject of this entry implies, I will be dealing with sexual themes below. If that isn't really your cup of tea, then yeah... You probably shouldn't continue to read this. Also, to any readers out there who happen to partake in 'Clop', don't worry; This isn't a mindless hate rant.

You still here? Alright, time to get down to business. So before I get started, I have to go on record and say I am not a Clopper myself. This is just a serious breakdown of Clopping, and what we should consider acceptable behavior. Where do we draw the line on what is ethical behavior or not?

Many onlookers outside the fandom, and even some from inside our fandom tend to view 'Clopping' as an unnatural act, or at the very least a strange one. While it is indeed out of the ordinary, does that really make it a bad thing?

The most common complaint I've personally heard on the issue is when people compare 'Clop' porn to bestiality. Can we really claim that they are the same thing? Characters from MLP quite obviously resemble earthly equines, but is it really all that similar?

Personally, I don't think so. Unlike real world horses, the ponies of Equestria are sapient beings. They are capable of reason and problem solving, as well as having morality. They have personalities, are capable of communication through language, and even have a full society capable of sustaining itself. Bestiality by it's definition is sexual interaction with an animal, but can something capable of human level intelligence truly be called an animal? I don't think so, and I think it is quite arrogant of us as humans to think otherwise. Calling anything capable of real intelligence an animal is basically dismissing them as inferior, and that is ignorant. Yes, I realize I am talking about cartoon characters, but my argument still holds up in that respect. My point is, Clopping is not the same as Bestiality. I have yet to meet a Clopper who wants to run out into a field and screw a horse.

Now, time to address the 'unnatural' part. Is it unnatural to pleasure yourself to a cartoon? While it is no doubt an out of the ordinary fetish, it's not all that unnatural.

To quote from the book 'How the Mind Works' by Steven Pinker;

"Another part of the sexual male mind is the ability to be easily aroused by a possible sex partner; Indeed the faintest hint at a possible sex partner. Zoologists have found that males of many species will court an enormous range of objects having a vague resemblance of the female; Other males, even females of the wrong species. The Human male is aroused by the sight of a nude woman, not only in the flesh but in movies, photographs, drawings, post cards or dolls. He takes pleasure in this mistaken identity."

By the way, for those of you who don't know, Steven Pinker is a professor of psychology and the director of the center for Cognitive neuroscience at the Massachusetts institute of technology. The guy knows what he's talking about.

His words basically debunk the notion of 'Clop' (Or even cartoon porn in general) being unnatural. Personality may also feed my point. Most of the characters on MLP are females capable of rational thinking. They have their own personalities, and some may find themselves attracted to these particular personalities. I do not believe attraction to MLP characters to be purely a physical attraction. People who are attracted to these characters see elements of humanity in them; elements of humanity that they happen to find appealing.

In this regard, I find it insultingly offensive for people to judge others for clopping. Human beings simply cannot choose who/what they are attracted to. It is hardwired into our biological coding. Shunning people for being attracted to 'Clop' material in my eyes is no different from Shunning gays.

Outcasting others for what they cannot control is idiotic, and frankly barbaric.

'Okay Jordo, I get it. It's perfectly natural for human beings to be attracted to different things. Still, couldn't Clop be harmful?'

Maybe, it depends on how you look at it. While the act of Clopping is, for the most part, harmless to the Clopper him/herself in a physical sense, it could have a negative effect on others.

As Bronies, we must realize we are watching a children's show. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, we may be accidentally exposing the children to this 'Clop' material.

Now before you fly off the handle, no; I am not going to spew 'Think of the children' moral bullshit.

It is something we as adults have to consider however. I know that the same argument could be made for regular porn, that if the children were to see it we would be killing innocence. There is a difference. Regular porn is not as accessible to children; for the most part you have to make a sincere effort to find porn on the internet. Unless, you know, you get unlucky.

Clop material on the other hand, is very easy for children to stumble on. All it really takes is one bad Google search MLP related. I've done this myself actually; I would be innocently searching something MLP related then WHAM!..... Porn. (Before someone points it out, yes my safe search is always on HIGH)

In the end however, we have to realize where we are. This is the internet, and the internet is a very nasty place. NSFW (Not safe for work) will always thrive on the internet, regardless if cloppers existed or not, so pinning the blame on them is simply not fair.

Personally If I had my way, children would just stay off the internet. I view it a lot like if you let your child browse various bathroom graffiti. They are eventually going to stumble on something they shouldn't have.

One more thing you all may have noticed, I'm not referring to Clop material as 'Rule 34' for a reason. If I did that, it would imply that My Little Pony is the only form of Rule 34 when that simply isn't true. Rule 34 exists in practically every fandom in existence. By it's very definition Rule 34 states: If it exists, there is a porn of it. It would be unfair to pin all of the bad rap on My little Pony.

In the end, I find nothing wrong with Clop myself. It's only natural for human beings to be attracted to different things, and to judge a person on that is moronic.

~This has been Eljordo,

Till next time.

TL;DR Version: There is nothing wrong with Clop. Leave the poor Cloppers alone.