Gender in MLP.
The most important lesson I’ve learned from Friendship is Magic is that your gender doesn’t dictate the way you have to be. You don’t have to consistently conform to one side of the gender binary, and because you may have one “feminine” characteristic doesn’t mean you don’t have other “masculine” ones. The variety of depictions of gender in the show have helped me to accept the gender variance within myself.
Rarity has taught me to accept my “girly” moments. Wanting to dress up or go shopping doesn’t necessarily mean I’m materialistic. Curling my hair and putting on a skirt—whether I do it once a year or every day—doesn’t make me weak, stupid, or a sexual object.
Fluttershy has taught me that shy or self-conscious girls are not necessarily weak. Shyness is not a character flaw and quiet people are often the most worth knowing.
Pinkie Pie has taught me to be myself. Just because some people may consider me unequal to a man but that doesn’t mean I have some responsibility to spend my time trying to prove them wrong; because that’s self-evident. I can accept my quirks and enjoy my life without worrying about how that affects other people’s view of me or any group I belong to.
Applejack shows that women are not physically weak, but at the same time, pride is not the opposite of weakness. Accepting help from others doesn’t mean you’re weak. It just means you’re human.
Twilight Sparkle shows that intelligence and social skills are not inversely proportionate. In a culture that portrays popular girls as stupid and smart girls as unpopular (see: any teen movie or TV show, JC Penny & Forever 21’s recent scandals with shirts that say things like “too pretty for algebra”), Twilight proves that being smart or even a little “nerdy” doesn’t mean you’re socially inept.
Rainbow Dash’s lesson is obvious—gender variance does not make you any less of a person than gender-conforming people. You are not confined to your physical gender; or even the gender binary.
Altogether, they have taught me that any way you express your gender is okay. So I may be a Rarity on Thursday and a Rainbow Dash on Friday, or dress like a Fluttershy and act like an Applejack, look like a Pinkie and feel like Rainbow, and so on. I can be all of them at the same time, none of them, or something else entirely. Thank you, MLP, for showing me freedom. <3
What do 'Harry Potter' and 'X-Men' both have in common?
Both are abysmal metaphors and analogies for racism in reality, unless you count casting and characterization :-D. Always ask yourself—
Are white people portrayed as “equally oppressed” (oppressed in the same ways, that is) as non-white people??
If the answer is yes, in terms of concepts, plots, and ideas in the film and/or book/comic, then it is NOT a working metaphor or analogy for racism in real life. Its another diversity bullshit campaign.
These films/books/comics are NOT working metaphors for actual racism in real life, no matter how much people like to reference and fantasize about them. We are not all “fighting the good fight”.
