Why is this fandom mostly male?

[Tom Snyder 4,112]

Yeah I've met a few but they were all 14-18

Yeah, there are many here, i've met a few.

[Moonlight 7,287]

There might be a few that age around here but I don't typically pay attention to gender/age so I have no idea, maybe look through a bunch of profiles?

Edited December 30, 2014 by WheatleyCore

[Jeric 46,854]

Yeah I've met a few but they were all 14-18

Like my daughters and several of the staff here?

 

 

Take it from one of the older fans on the board ... age is completely irrelevant to Ponies. It's irrelevant to many things really. I have met and talked to so many of the members here since I joined back in April ... many I now consider friends. 17 or 37 or 40's ... all amazing in their own right.

 

Where are the older women? Out there I suppose. Doesn't really matter in my mind though

 

[Wingnut 7,000]

 

 

So is it just me, or does there seem to be a shortage of women in the 20-30 age group in this fandome :/

 

Hi J.T.  While you seem to be focusing on a narrow age segment of the fandom, your question still falls under the umbrella of why are there more male than female MLP fans.  So I'm going ahead and merging your thread with an older one.  I've always found it peculiar that a franchise aimed at boys, Transformers, seems to have more adult females in their fanbase than MLP (even though a majority of TF fans are male as well).  But while female Bronies/Pegasisters may be a minority, there are still quite a few around the forum and I hope you get to meet more of them as time goes on.   

[J.T. 1,843]

 

 

age is completely irrelevant to Ponies

I know, I was just making a general observation is all

[Ridley Wolf 291]

I wouldn't say that there are more male fans then there are female fans, but there are certainly more male Bronies than female Bronies.

 

I'm guessing that this is because it's still considered socially unacceptable for males to watch MLP, so many Bronies end up seeking out others with a common interest as a way of validating their own love of the show.

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

I would say it's a similar reason as to why many guys were open to watching Disney princess movies no matter how girly the merchandise was. It was more the animation and how detailed the plot and characters were rather than the merchandise. If if weren't for the animation, detailed plot and characters, the fandom wouldn't have had a high male population. Also, like some pony mentioned earlier, 4chan created a domino effect.

[Envy 6,172]

Many are looking at this wrong... The 'Brony' fandom is only a very small portion of the overall MLP fanbase. The reason it is male-dominated is because it popped up on its own, across many male-dominated online communities, drawing lots of those guys to it.

 

There is very much a large amount of older/adult women that are into MLP, it's just that many did not come into MLP the same way, and thus never caught into the 'Brony' part. I came into MLP around the same time as the Brony fandom, so I ended up here, but many were into MLP for a long time and have their own communities (which have been around for many years) where Bronies are in the minority.

 

So, yeah... It's more that the Brony fandom is its own thing, than it is that men are in the majority of liking MLP. Men are not in the majority in any way, shape, or form.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Envy

[RainbowPastel 185]

I don't think it is mostly male. How I see it, males in the fandom are just more recognized because it's unusual to see guy break the "gender rule". There has always been girls in the fandom so they are not as recognized.

[J.T. 1,843]

And here I thought I might finally have a hobby where I could meet some nice women   You win again life :okiedokielokie:  J.T. 1 Life 5

Oh well, at least I have the ponies

[High Step 46]

Well, I suppose males need love too, but really, to me it appears that it mostly started with males, hence: BROthers of my little poNY... Brony, though we fillies can be Bronies too *giggle*

[CosmicHooves 2,705]

I theorize that it's because the natural "guy instinct" that media has brought up in us is that guys aren't supposed to like ponies.

Well we're begining live in a time where we're starting to question if what "a guy's supposed to do" is relevant.

"Can a boy play with Barbies?"

"Can a dude watch My Little Pony?"

As a society we're starting to realize that gender doesn't classify certain interests you have.

So when a guy steps outa the closet and says "I like My Little Pony", other guys are gonna want to know why and they'll see the show for themselves.

Personally, I think the majority of girls just tossed the cartoon aside as another "kids show".

 

Let's be all honest....

 

 

It's this:

 

 

 

Clopper or not, these flanks are hot.

My friend, I completely agree with your post. Edited December 30, 2014 by Joker

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

There's plenty. Most older pegisisters Dont inhabit forums tho.... I meet a few in toy stores when I go to browse the merch....

[ThatOneComrade 1,091]

This fandom has plenty of girls Most are 8

[chirox the pony 1,336]

Well I think the question is we aren't there as many OLDER females compared to males, my theory is that simply put women are more likely to see it as a kids thing, you see chances are if you grew up with a gender ( ) that means you would be a target of gendered marketing which is something my little pony is no stranger to. So if you were female you may have had a my little pony doll, or you would have at least known something about it, compare that to me and my primary school classmates, all they told me about it was "it's a girls toy line" so I (and anyone else I knew) would avoid anything targeted towards the girls because if you liked it that would the childhood equivalent of suicide. So fast forward a decade later and females are more likely to say "I know what my little pony is that's for children" while males may be more intrigued because they will likely know next to nothing about it, that's my theory anyway. 

[Bendy 1,821]

Because all us men go gah gah over the ponies. XD

 

Seriously, I have no idea.

[SilverStarApple 849]

It's a show starring six awesome girls, and the only male characters are bland background characters, walking catchphrases, or Spike.

 

Now go look at a show like Hetalia, a show where all of the countries are guys. Except for the few ones that are girls. And look at the mostly-female mostly-yaoi-loving fandom.

[Sommar 1,289]

Like the people above me said, there are females on these forums. I happen to be one. Minorities whoo hoo!

 

But to answer your question: I guess the majority of women don't find the appeal in multi-colors ponies. Or maybe because the fandom originated off of 4chan and I'm pretty sure that site is male dominant. *Shrugs*

Edited December 30, 2014 by ThatAwkwardBookworm

[Princess Lona 382]

Are we sure the fandom is as male-majority as all that? Obviously it was in the beginning because 4chan, but I feel like I come across pretty close to equal numbers of both genders on forums and in analyst videos and the like. I think there are slightly more men, but I wouldn't call it a vast majority. I really can't say until we get some proper stats. I wonder if here on the Internet, we just assume a person is male unless otherwise stated. I have "Princess" in my username and people still assume I'm a guy all the time. It happens on other forums too.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Princess Lona

[Freewave 1,145]

I find most of the women in the fandom are in niche subgroups like cosplay or art. It's unfortunate that there seems to be somewhat of a divide between the guys and girls in this fandom.

[Powderpuff 390]

I guess I'm one of the 'older' girls on this forum (meaning, I'm over 18...). I can't speak for any other women, but I personally have a hard time on these forums because I barely have anything in common with bronies (or, the demographic that makes up most of the brony fandom). Besides ponies, there is very little for me to relate to on sites like these. 

 

I go to an all girls' college. I have not met another girl at my school that goes on forums (as far as I know.) I know girls do visit forums, but overall they're very male-centric spaces. Older female fans do exist, they just might not interact with the fandom in the same ways you do.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

From what I've observed, based on limited experience, the gender ratio isn't super overwhelmingly male. I've been on this forum, and I attended Brony Can last year, and from what I've seen the gender ratio is slightly in favor of guys, but there are plenty of pegasisters around too. A number of people on this forum are female, from what I've observed, and I saw a lot of women at Brony Can. I will admit that in the off chance I have met a Brony in my day to day life(which isn't that often), it has usually been another guy, but one of my fellow volunteers who is female showed up one day wearing a Rainbowdash shirt. I should have asked her about that.

 

I will admit that based on observation, even the child demographic who watches this show isn't all girls. When I went to see Rainbow Rocks with my friend, there was a woman with a group of 8 or 9 year old boys(possibly a birthday party). There weren't a lot of Bronies there, but in the front row was a group of five consisting of three guys and two girls who looked to be in their early 20s. The point is, this show doesn't belong to any one demographic. I wouldn't be surprised if Pegasisters feel like they're downplayed just because people don't find the notion of them watching the show nearly as intriguing as guys watching it, but there are plenty of them too.