Meet the Bronies: The Psychology of the Adult My Little Pony Fandom (original) (raw)
Related papers
We examined the prevalence rates of mental and neurodevelopmental illness among members of three different fandoms: anime, My Little Pony (brony), and furry. In total, nearly 2,600 fans across these groups self-reported whether or not they had ever been diagnosed with a psychological and/or neurodevelopmental illness. Data revealed that anime fans, bronies, and furries all show higher rates of diagnoses on the autism spectrum than rates observed in studies of the general population. Rates of mood and anxiety disorders were lower than that of the general population. Rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were lower in anime and brony fandoms, but were not different from the general population for furry fans. Taken together, the results provide an exploratory look at mental health issues in fan communities and suggest both commonalities across fan groups and idiosyncrasies within particular fandoms.
Transported to Another World: The Psychology of Anime Fans
2021
Anime/manga (Japanese animation and comics) have been increasing in popularity worldwide for decades. But despite being a global phenomenon, there’s been surprisingly little psychological research formally studying its devoted fanbase. In this book we aim to do just that with an overview of nearly a decade of research by fan psychologists. Otaku and cosplayers, genre preferences, hentai, parasocial connections, motivation, personality, fanship and fandom, stigma, and well-being – this book looks at all of these topics through a psychological lens. Many of these findings are being presented for the first time, without the jargon and messy statistical analyses, but in plain language so it’s accessible to all readers – fans and curious observers alike!
My Little Pony, tolerance is magic: Gender policing and Brony anti-fandom
‘Creepy and immature’; ‘paedophiles’; ‘a freaking embarrassment’; and ‘pathetic sissies [who] giggle like school girls’ are all phrases which have been used to describe fans of My Little Pony. More specifically, they are all phrases which have been used to describe Bronies, male fans of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010–) cartoon. Bronies are often a source of ridicule, both on forums like Reddit and 4chan, where scores of threads dedicated to ‘Brony hate’ have been posted, and within the more mainstream press which fails to understand why grown men might watch and engage with a children’s show. Furthermore, criticisms aimed at Bronies commonly resort to gendered stereotyping: My Little Pony is pink and sparkly, things that men are not supposed to like. That Bronies disrupt traditional notions of gender makes them both objects of ridicule and a means by which the gendered voice of anti-fandom can be complicated. Discussions on anti-fandom and gender often focus on ‘female’ texts like Twilight (Meyer, 2005) and Fifty Shades of Grey (James, 2012). As Matt Hills (2012) points out in his analysis of Twilight anti-fandom, girls’ desires are frequently attacked by cultural commentators and the mainstream media. However, in this article I argue that the realm of Brony fandom, and anti-fandom, is far more complex. I build upon the work of Jonathan Gray (2003) and Cornel Sandvoss (2005) by examining Brony anti-fandom, particularly in relation to its use of social media and its heavily gendered pathologizing of Bronies by both men and women.
Not all Fantasies are Created Equal: Fantasy Sport Fans' Perceptions of Furry, Brony, and Anime Fans
Furries report in qualitative and quantitative studies that they feel discriminated against by the general public, but there are no published empirical data to support these claims. In this study we surveyed (N = 118) fantasy sport fans online to quantify their assessments of three fan groups: furry, brony, and anime. Using 50 as a neutral point, fantasy sport fans were given a feeling thermometer test and asked to rate each fan group on a scale from 1 (extremely negative) to 100 (extremely positive). Participants who did not know what a furry, brony, or anime fan was were asked to write “NA” in the response field, and they were deleted from individual analyses. First we assessed how fantasy sport fans rated themselves, furries, bronies, and anime fans using a one-sample t-test with a test value of 50, which represented a neutral position. The results indicated that fantasy sport fans regard themselves significantly more favourably than neutral. However, fantasy sport fans assessed furries, bronies, and anime fans significantly less favorably than neutral. Within-subjects t-tests were conducted to determine how fantasy sport fans believed that a typical fantasy sport fan would assess other fan groups. Fantasy sport fans reported that they believed a typical fantasy sport fan would be more favorable of an anime fan than either a brony or furry fan. We also assessed how negatively fantasy sport fans personally felt about fantasy sport fans, furries, bronies and anime fans. Fantasy sport fans felt significantly more favorable toward fantasy sport fans than any other group. They also felt significantly more favorable about anime fans than either bronies or furries, which they viewed equally negatively. The results of this study provide evidence that furries and bronies face significantly greater negative affect than do anime fans when assessed by fantasy sport fans.
Expect the Unexpected: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Creation of a Double Audience
Transatlantica 2, 2019
Popular and academic discussions of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic often tend to contrast the “expected audience” of very young girls with an adult, mostly male “unexpected audience.” This polarizing view begs the question of what the various agents involved in the production of the series actually expect of their audience, and how such expectations are expressed through the material they produce and the type of behaviors they encourage. I argue that MLP: FiM is in fact the site of a complex combination of expectations (moral, commercial, and otherwise) that create a specific type of audience. Beyond their obvious commercial nature, the MLP: FiM show and comics are tied with ideological and legal concerns regarding the status of children’s entertainment, which is expected to protect and educate its audience. Moreover, the creators had their own set of expectations: they set out to question gender stereotypes by creating quality entertainment for girls that presented independence, solidarity, and individual development as positive values. The desire to reappraise girls’ entertainment helped create a franchise that was in fact transgenerational and encouraged different modes of participation, thus creating the conditions for the emergence of an older, more media-savvy fan audience.
We examined several plausible motivators of fans in three different fandoms and the association of these motivators with fan group identification. Self-identified anime fans, furries, and fantasy sport fans completed measures of fanship (psychological connection with a fan interest), fandom (psychological connection with others sharing the same interest), and the factors motivating them to engage in fan activities (e.g., escapism, belongingness). The three fan groups differed in both mean ratings of fanship and fandom, and were driven by different motivations. Different motivations, in turn, were found to differently predict fanship and fandom. These results suggest that fan groups may differ not just in content, but on important psychological variables, including the motivation underlying fan participation.
Pale and Geeky: Prevailing Stereotypes of Anime Fans
Furries report in qualitative and quantitative studies that they feel discriminated against by the general public, but there are no published empirical data to support these claims. In this study we surveyed (N = 118) fantasy sport fans online to quantify their assessments of three fan groups: furry, brony, and anime. Using 50 as a neutral point, fantasy sport fans were given a feeling thermometer test and asked to rate each fan group on a scale from 1 (extremely negative) to 100 (extremely positive). Participants who did not know what a furry, brony, or anime fan was were asked to write “NA” in the response field, and they were deleted from individual analyses. First we assessed how fantasy sport fans rated themselves, furries, bronies, and anime fans using a one-sample t-test with a test value of 50, which represented a neutral position. The results indicated that fantasy sport fans regard themselves significantly more favourably than neutral. However, fantasy sport fans assessed furries, bronies, and anime fans significantly less favorably than neutral. Within-subjects t-tests were conducted to determine how fantasy sport fans believed that a typical fantasy sport fan would assess other fan groups. Fantasy sport fans reported that they believed a typical fantasy sport fan would be more favorable of an anime fan than either a brony or furry fan. We also assessed how negatively fantasy sport fans personally felt about fantasy sport fans, furries, bronies and anime fans. Fantasy sport fans felt significantly more favorable toward fantasy sport fans than any other group. They also felt significantly more favorable about anime fans than either bronies or furries, which they viewed equally negatively. The results of this study provide evidence that furries and bronies face significantly greater negative affect than do anime fans when assessed by fantasy sport fans.
Routes to Fandom Discovery and Expression of Fan Identity in Furry, Anime, and Fantasy Sport Fans
In the present study, we examined routes to fandom membership and expressions of fan identity in members of the furry, anime, and fantasy sport fandoms. Participants from each fandom answered two open-ended questions asking how they discovered and became part of the fandom and how they expressed their fan interest. Furries primary cite the Internet as their point of discovering the fandom. Anime fans attribute their interest to a combination of the Internet, media, and clubs. Fantasy sport fans cite their friends and family as the primary point of discovery. When it comes to expressing fan interest, furries tend to produce fan-related artifacts and display group symbols. Anime fans, in contrast, tend to consume anime-related content, and fantasy sport fans research and participate in their activity, as well as evangelizing it. Together, the results illustrate that there is no one route to fandom, nor is there only one way for fan interests to manifest themselves.
"Bordering on Excess": Perceptions of Fan Obsession in Anime Fans, Furries, and Star Wars Fans
The Phoenix Papers, 2022
In the present research, we examine what it means for fans to take their interests “too far” in a multi-fandom, qualitative study. Specifically, we asked self-identified anime fans, furries, and Star Wars fans to describe what, to them, marked the point where a fan could be said to be taking their interest too far. From these responses we extracted five common themes across fandoms: (1) when one’s fan interest negatively impacts their life, (2) when one’s fan interest becomes the sole or defining feature of their personality, (3) when one’s fan-related opinions are pushed on others, (4) when a fan loses touch with reality, and (5) when there is a connection between one’s fan interest and their sexual desire. We also note that anime fans cited a unique, sixth theme, when fans excessively worship Japanese culture. The responses suggest that excessive fan behavior may be ubiquitous across fandoms, although there may be idiosyncratic excesses characteristic of specific fandoms. We discuss these findings in the context of existing fan literature as well as their implications, both practical and for future research.
Interrogating tweendom online : 'fangirl as pathology', gender/age, and iCarly fandom
2015
Since the early 1990s, fan studies has sought to counter perceptions of the ‘pathology of fandom’ and the devaluation of fans as feminine and infantile. In recent years, some scholars have claimed that fans are newly normalised in popular culture, and it is no longer necessary to contest problematic or pathologising stereotypes of fans. However, the near-exclusive stereotyped representation of ‘hysterical’ crowds of adolescent female fans, and the routine dismissal of ‘fangirls’ in mainstream media and fandom itself, would indicate that not all fans have escaped pathologisation. It is also the case that not all fans have enjoyed equal levels of academic attention. By virtue of their age and gender, girl fans arguably carry the greatest burden of negative stereotyping. Yet they have been notably marginalised in fan studies scholarship and their stereotyped construction has remained largely unchallenged. This thesis seeks to address this imbalance as it offers a timely examination of ...