LAWLzoR

Next to the recent surge in push for women's equality (otherwise known as Equality) bronies just might be up on the top 10 in greatest social phenomena. How did this come to be though? For those who haven't been around the internet, Bronies are men (usually teen to adult) who like the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. But again, this is just a group of men (and women) who just like a show. Well, there are several things that need to be added in order to realize why this has become an international social phenomenon (or "meme").

One point in fact that helps people realize why this is a meme is that it happened on the internet. The internet is a very widely used information medium. Just like how I'm typing this and you guys are (hopefully) reading it, it's hard to disregard the effects that the internet had on society.

Another very strong point is that this is no normal show. This is, let's be serious now bronies, a show marketed towards little girls. Of course I'm not saying adults or men aren't allowed to watch the show. Of course you/they may. However, we have to realize that the target demographic was, and still is, for young females.

So what does this have to do with how bronies became a meme? For those who don't know, society has a thing called "gender roles". It's basically what society says is okay for a certain gender to do. For example, it's okay for a little boy to like robots and aliens and toy guns and gross stuff, and for a little girl to like baking and princesses and tiaras. The brony fandom destroys this concept completely. I'm not saying bronies were the first to knock on the wall that separates gender roles, but it does take a strong hit. This is exactly why the news, and general people pay attention to it. It breaks the social norm. People pay a lot of attention to something that sticks out.

Why do we give this a lot of attention? Well to answer that question, let me ask another. Assume you had to make a strong house. A strong, sturdy house. You're hammering some nails in and all of them need to be flat in. However, you realize one nail is sticking out. What do you do? You hammer it in. That's what society generally does, and throughout history society has done this. In Pre-Soviet Russia, during the revolutions, the people who wanted to keep the old form of government were looked down upon and far worse were done. In Rome with the Christians, the same thing happened. In around the 1860s in the USA the abolitionists were looked down upon, as well as the suffragettes.

But this brings up a good question. If throughout history, the figurative "nails" that stuck out got nailed in, how come we haven't? Well, surprise surprise, in the end, those "nails" won. The Christians? Christianity became a world religion. The suffragettes? It took a lot of time, but eventually they got what they want. Abolitionists? They also got what they wanted too in the end. I don't mean to say that bronies have gone through the same hardships as the people that I've stated, but it's the idea that I was trying to get across.

Bronies have been successful because of the already generally accepting world around us, and the "Family Mentality" where we stick together and support each other. Of course other groups have exhibited that nature and they ended up like how we are now. Society has become more accepting throughout history.

And that is my explanation on why bronies have made it this far.