My Little Pony, although conceptualized for and typically associated with little girls, has found popularity among adult men, and their part of the fandom is known as ‘bronies’. Bronies are very active online and have some in-person events, such as BronyCon. Being a part of the bronies is nevertheless seen as inherently odd or creepy. Bronies can interact with the world of MLP through consumption of the media and toys, or through active engagement in the fandom. They are, in fact, credited with the advent of MLP porn and sexually suggestive fan art.
The genre of erotic fan art of MLP is called ‘Clop’, a play on another internet slang, ‘fap’, referencing masturbation. Pornographic materials of the ponies have been found in popular adult content websites, and the demand comes mostly from the adult male fans of the shows. Based on search statistics, the viewers of this type of content are selective about the ponies they wish to look at, with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie being the top searched ponies.
There is evidence that interacting with such materials is in fact frowned upon by a part of the fandom, and the stigma makes it more difficult to get accurate numbers on the prevalence of this practice.
Just as the sexualization of the ponies in fan art has become a stain of the bronies, so has their exclusion of female fans in some extreme cases. There are anecdotal links between engaging in clopping and the exclusion of the ‘normal fans’ that do not engage in more extreme forms of sexualization in the fandom. On the other hand, emotional bonding over fringe behaviors becomes possible for these more extreme bronies, and they find outlets with each other that they would not have found otherwise.
If you wish to hear more about the unintended viewing demographics that MLP encountered, check out the Target Audiences article in our Pony’s Journey tour.