there's also an element of sexism to Bronies' protestation that it's NOT a show meant for little girls, it's SO MUCH COOLER THAN THAT. "

Plenty of kids shows are pretty good, and from what I've heard MLP is one of those. Either way though, I've always thought the scorn that bronies receive is way out of proportion to the actual strangeness of what they do. (Unless you're really uncomfortable with cross-gender fandoms and look down on female-directed…

Sure, I find it a little weird too. But I think the derision they get is way out of proportion compared to similar fandoms that are more gender appropriate.

Ok, well at least man it up, in a way that shows it's about guys and not about girls.

Great, great point. I think it also relates to the suspicion we have when men want to go into childcare, elementary school teaching or even fucking hang around a playground. Guys are perpetual horndogs, everything they do revolves around sex, therefore the only reason they could have to be into a girl's show is sex.

Sounds like you have experience with bronies? I really don't think that sounds any more heinous than rabid gamers or any other group. I figure they're just like your typical nerd group on the internet (reddity, mostly white and male and therefore racist and sexist), only they happen to be into something that's even…

I always figured they had to be hyper-masculine about their name as an attempt to push back against the perceived girliness of their interests. Like how men don't carry purses, they carry murses. Or action figures vs. dolls

There's an element of sexism to all the derision for Bronies. Not only are they fans of a kid's show, they're fans of a kid's show meant for girls. Fans of, I dunno, Adventure Time or ThunderCats don't get nearly as much scorn. Can't help but think it's because they're lowering themselves to like something feminine.

Ha, I'm really glad that someone took the time to film that and put it on youtube. Some guys seem to like it though, at least in my experience.

I'm a dirty talk fan, so I like making asking for consent all nasty, but yeah that works too. I usually ask "is it okay?" before venturing into new territory. It doesn't kill the mood at all, and hearing the guy say "oh god yes" or something similar is pretty hot. Most importantly, every now and then I get a "I'm…

I think you're imagining consent to be something like "Do you wish to engage in sexual relations, confirm or deny?"

Deadspin is a million times better on gender-related articles than Kotaku is.

Good. Unregulated discourse just leads to the nastiest, loudest, most obnoxious voices dominating while the more reasoned commenters stay away.

The worst is how most men just. don't. get. it. They tell you you're making it up or overreacting or that you need a thicker skin or that you're being unfair to men.

Yeah, I love how Linda and his kids are the crazy irresponsible ones half the time.

It's because there is support for womens soccer all the way up to pro leagues. Not so much for women's baseball (is that even a thing?)

Yeah, I've heard decent things about them until this.

It's just tone-deaf. I'm sure they genuinely thought that it might appeal to women, but based on the near universal recoiling in disgust I saw over this from tech spaces, they utterly failed. Even if we set aside the sexism issue, this is not a good way to interest women in your product.

Because this is a phone company, and they're putting on a beauty contest for women meant to titillate their (assumed) male-only audience. It's using (straight male focused) sex to sell something totally unrelated to sex.

Yeah, I'm Asian and no one in my family really uses deodorant and I've never noticed any of them really smelling, even when we've gone for a long time without showering (camping, etc).