# "My Little Pony": The most sexist show on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375 "2014-04-04T21:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/61 "2014-04-07T23:25:48Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > My son was a Brony at the age if three. He thought Rainbow Dash was the coolest thing ever (and a boy) and went by “Rainbow Dash” for quite a period if time. Then one day . . . his little sister said she wanted to watch the pony show. The neighbor boy who plays with my daughter doesn’t much care for the MLP ponies. Except for Rainbow Dash. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/62 "2014-04-08T01:37:26Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > My son was a Brony at the age if three. He thought Rainbow Dash was the coolest thing ever (and a boy) > [@LinusK](#): > > Daughter actually thought that Rainbow _was_ a boy. For a little while. The show must have cleared that up for her, at some point. This seems to be a really common thing for young kids. Applejack and Dash are both tomboys and voiced by the same person. AJ has a deeper register, though maybe her long blonde hair gives it away? Dash’s voice never struck me as overly masculine, just cracky. Like she needs some cough syrup. > [@LinusK](#): > > We do sometimes still do Rarity challenging Twilight for leadership. Bit of a stretch. Rarity wants to climb the social ladder, but only in her field of expertise. She knows she isn’t good at leading a band of heroes to go on a quest. Not really her style. Maybe in more of a day to day sorta thing she could try to be bossy. Like if you tried to plan out a day she’d only want to do her stuff. Rainbow Dash I could see being the rebel and trying to wrest control away from Twilight. Stereotypical jock vs. nerd dynamic, Dash could get tired of Twilight being too analytical or not tough enough, and Dash has a galactic sized ego. I’m honestly kinda surprised they never explored that in the show. > [@](#): > > It used to be we didn’t know why Twilight was the leader, but it turns out she’s a Princess. (A Princess in training, but still.) Even before that, she was the best at magic and knew her legends and general lore and problem solving. Plus she was hand picked by Celestia to be her special student, which gives her a huge bump in status. This is another reason Rarity wouldn’t challenge Twilight too much. She’s obsessed with Canterlot and royalty. When they first meet and she learns Twilight grew up there she flips out. There’s an episode where she thanks Celestia and literally falls on the ground and kisses her feet. > [@](#): > > PS: Does this mean we can abandon the "There really are (non)token boys in the MLP universe? Not really. Spike is the only regular reoccurring male protagonist that isn’t a cardboard cutout. Discord is pretty awesome, but he’s been in what, six episodes out of 90 or whatever. There are some fun male characters, but they tend to be one shots. > [@Teuton](#): > > It’s not actually made clear. Sure it is, the Cake babies were named right away. Pumpkin and Pound. The best example for the weird name thing is Twilight. Oh, her coat is a twilight color, fair enough. Oh wait, _Twilight_ united the moon and sun sisters again. Day, night, twilight…can’t escape that fantasy destiny. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > You mean alicorns I guess, but they’re not much of a race numbers wise. Most of the nobles in Canterlot seem to be unicorns looking down their noses on the rest of Equestria. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/63 "2014-04-08T03:18:30Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > This seems to be a really common thing for young kids. Applejack and Dash are both tombows _I_ always knew Rainboy was a girl. (Because her name is rainbow.) wasn’t so sure about Applejack. > [@](#): > > Bit of a stretch. Rarity wants to climb the social ladder, but only in her field of expertise. She knows she isn’t good at leading a band of heroes to go on a quest. Not really her style. Maybe in more of a day to day sorta thing she could try to be bossy. Like if you tried to plan out a day she’d only want to do her stuff. We had the toys before we watched the show. > [@](#): > > Not really. Spike is the only regular reoccurring male protagonist that isn’t a cardboard cutout. Discord is pretty awesome, but he’s been in what, six episodes out of 90 or whatever. There are some fun male characters, but they tend to be one shots. I haven’t seen enough episodes to know how often Spike appears. I assume, as Twilight’s sidekick, he gets quite a bit of screen time. He seems like a bit of a slapstick/punchline character though. When he’s around he’s usually getting squished, exploded or forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/64 "2014-04-08T03:34:54Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > Well, we (luckily) don’t watch Strawberry Shortcake, so I can’t comment on that one. > > _Is_ the premise faulty? I thought the defense of MLP was that there are (well, used to be) kids’ shows all about boys? Which were… sexist, right? There’s absolutely nothing sexist in and of itself about a mono-gendered (or predominately mono-gendered) show. The argument is that shows **overwhelmingly** only revolve around boys or men (and often white ones). It’s not sexist that the Transformers, in specific, are basically all guys, it is sexist that almost every major show with attention and a budget, including Transformers, predominately revolved around guys. Well… okay, I’m sure if you try you can find plenty of feminists that argue that a show with only boys is sexist in and of itself, regardless of cultural context, but I strongly disagree with them and I think a lot of feminists do. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/65 "2014-04-08T04:17:28Z")
The Transformers was a 1980s show, wasn’t it? I grew up on Scooby Doo and The Brady Bunch, so The Transformers was after my time, but so far as I know, there are _no_ just about boys anymore. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/66 "2014-04-08T04:27:26Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Not really. Spike is the only regular reoccurring male protagonist that isn’t a cardboard cutout. I’d argue that Big McIntosh stands out as distinctive. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/67 "2014-04-08T06:15:38Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I haven’t seen enough episodes to know how often Spike appears. I assume, as Twilight’s sidekick, he gets quite a bit of screen time. He seems like a bit of a slapstick/punchline character though. When he’s around he’s usually getting squished, exploded or forgotten. While he gets to be the butt of the joke pretty often, that’s true of the other main characters as well. Their characters are far from perfect–among them and at various times, they’re brash, stubborn, fussy, melodramatic, workaholic, and experience nearly crippling anxieties and deep insecurities. Which, of course, leads to enough hijinks that most of the main characters get a turn at being the [Butt Monkey](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ButtMonkey). Spike gets the role most often, it’s true–but Twilight got it for a particularly brutal episode full of Coyote/Roadrunner-esque slapstick. Conversely, Spike is rather lazy, has a goofy crush, and tends to get dragged along by Twilight’s enthusiasms (or panic), but in many ways, he’s the [Only Sane Dragon](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.OnlySaneMan). He often manages to keep his head when the others are acting wackier than usual, so he gets chances to call them on it and/or mock them. (Among other things, he’s the one who gets to temporarily nickname Applejack after _another_ alcoholic beverage.) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/68 "2014-04-08T08:33:38Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > They wouldn’t want to. The cutie mark is emblematic of their inherent passion. Remember when Twilight accidentally switches them all up? Doing what they loved fixed having the wrong cutie mark. I wonder how hard the writers of the show thought about this premise. Consider one shot characters like Berry Punch and Silver Shill. Diamond Tiara is supposed to be the bully, but I can’t help feeling sorry for her. With a name like that she’s doomed to be a snob her entire life. I love this show, but I find it’s easier not to think too hard about such things. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/69 "2014-04-08T08:47:44Z")
Cute as a criticism it is, it’s really just a fiction thing. Poor Remus Lupin was doomed to be a werewolf the moment his birth certificate was signed. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/70 "2014-04-08T08:55:56Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Sure it is, the Cake babies were named right away. Pumpkin and Pound. > > The best example for the weird name thing is Twilight. Oh, her coat is a twilight color, fair enough. Oh wait, _Twilight_ united the moon and sun sisters again. Day, night, twilight…can’t escape that fantasy destiny. Sorry, I should have been clearer and actually explained what I was talking about. I’ve heard fan theories that attempt to explain the Cutie Mark/Name thing by suggesting that the names ponies go by when young are different to the names they go by when they get their Cutie Marks. It can make a lot of sense if you don’t think about it too much but, as I said, it’s directly contradicted in one episode. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/71 "2014-04-08T09:19:33Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > As an aside, I used to play Rarity as bossy and stuck-up, just she looks that way. (And because it’s hard to have a good story without conflict.) But she corrected me, and I’m not allowed to play her that way anymore. Well, she may not be bossy or stuck-up, but she’s certainly worstponi. > [@marshmallow](#): > > I liked how Rarity and Pinkie kept calling him a monster, even to his face, despite Fluttershy’s corrections. All those mule jokes. 'Dat racism. Seriously, am I the only one who remembers that “stubborn as a mule” joke and immediately had to think “that’s a racist joke”? Like, not just racist against mules, but as in the mule is supposed to be a surrogate for blacks? Not that the writers were racist, but that that was the parody they were going for? > [@](#): > > - > - I’m still wondering if Ponyville actually elects their mayor, as a sort of crumb tossed their way by the aristocracy, or if she’s appointed. Pretty sure it’s her cutie mark… > [@Gedd](#): > > Pinkie Pie is the Ultimate Ponymaster? I _knew_ it! Wouldn’t surprise me. That pony breaks the fourth wall more often than Bugs Bunny. Plus, you know, [super saiyan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqVVtaWd8Pw) (warning: NSFW, kind of horrible, very fun :D). > [@marshmallow](#): > > Rainbow Dash I could see being the rebel and trying to wrest control away from Twilight. Stereotypical jock vs. nerd dynamic, Dash could get tired of Twilight being too analytical or not tough enough, and Dash has a galactic sized ego. I’m honestly kinda surprised they never explored that in the show. Well, there are three things I see that get in the way of this: she’s the element of loyalty, she’s not the brightest, and she’s too cool. Most of her stories have been about her abandoning her friends, rather than taking over them. She’s never interested in taking over, more just leaving because she’s “too cool”. It wouldn’t fit her character well. OT: I’m with **JRagon**. It’s a show targeted at girls to market toys, so obviously most of the main cast is going to be girls. However, they don’t pull the “reverse smurfs” and just throw in one or two token male characters; there are a large variety of male characters playing various roles. Not really any _major_ roles, but you still get a lot of different personalities, from Hoity Toity to Big Mac to Mr. Cake to Discord to Iron Will to whatshisname from the Wonderbolts - nothing token or necessarily stereotypical (except Bulk Biceps, who gets a pass because _awesome_). It handles sexism incredibly well, in my eyes. If a predominately male-targeted show did the reverse, I’d be really, _really_ impressed by that as well. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/72 "2014-04-08T13:04:05Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > I grew up on Scooby Doo and The Brady Bunch, so The Transformers was after my time, but so far as I know, there are _no_ just about boys anymore. _Just_ boys… I’m not sure, I can’t think of one. But all boys and a single girl? Based just on what my girls have watched, (and especially in what they watch with their friends who are boys),“The Smurfette” is alive and well. Transfomers: Rescue Bots PAW Patrol Lego Ninjago … From what little I’ve seen of those shows, there seems to be a team with “The Smart One”, “The Strong One”, “The \_\_\_ One”, “The \_\_\_ One”, and… The Girl. As if being a girl is the only character trait she needs. That’s arguably worse than having no girls at all. Now, granted, my girls watch a lot more “girls’ shows,” and for the most part (previously mentioned Strawberry Shortcake aside) they do a pretty decent job of focusing on girls while having multiple male characters that aren’t just “The Boy”. (I’m thinking about Sofia the First, the Tinkerbell movie series, Angelina Ballerina, Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, etc.) And even the shows they watch with more male characters than female tend to have at least 2 different girls nowadays (Backyardigans, Octocnauts, etc.). And the one they watch with only 1 girl in the main cast (Jake and the Neverland Pirates) has multiple recurring female side characters. (Besides, in a team of 3 people and a parrot, 1 girl /3 boys is within a standard deviation of average) So based purely on what my kids watch, and my memories of what I watched, things have come decently far since the 80’s in terms of gender balance on kids’ shows, but it seems that at least some of the “boys’ shows” are still likely to assume their viewers can’t handle more than one girl in the cast. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/73 "2014-04-08T13:35:20Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > _Just_ boys… I’m not sure, I can’t think of one. Does “Regular Show” have any regular female characters? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/74 "2014-04-08T15:25:47Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’d argue that Big McIntosh stands out as distinctive. Ay’up… ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/75 "2014-04-08T17:15:51Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > _Just_ boys… I’m not sure, I can’t think of one. But all boys and a single girl? Based just on what my girls have watched, (and especially in what they watch with their friends who are boys),“The Smurfette” is alive and well. > > Transfomers: Rescue Bots > PAW Patrol > Lego Ninjago > … > > From what little I’ve seen of those shows, there seems to be a team with “The Smart One”, “The Strong One”, “The \_\_\_ One”, “The \_\_\_ One”, and… The Girl. As if being a girl is the only character trait she needs. That’s arguably worse than having no girls at all. > > Now, granted, my girls watch a lot more “girls’ shows,” and for the most part (previously mentioned Strawberry Shortcake aside) they do a pretty decent job of focusing on girls while having multiple male characters that aren’t just “The Boy”. (I’m thinking about Sofia the First, the Tinkerbell movie series, Angelina Ballerina, Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, etc.) And even the shows they watch with more male characters than female tend to have at least 2 different girls nowadays (Backyardigans, Octocnauts, etc.). And the one they watch with only 1 girl in the main cast (Jake and the Neverland Pirates) has multiple recurring female side characters. (Besides, in a team of 3 people and a parrot, 1 girl /3 boys is within a standard deviation of average) > > So based purely on what my kids watch, and my memories of what I watched, things have come decently far since the 80’s in terms of gender balance on kids’ shows, but it seems that at least some of the “boys’ shows” are still likely to assume their viewers can’t handle more than one girl in the cast. I know nothing of the other two, but Paw Patrol has two main characters who are girls: Sky, and Zooma. (Pay Patrol was Daughter’s fav before MLP.) ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/76 "2014-04-08T19:19:29Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > I know nothing of the other two, but Paw Patrol has two main characters who are girls: Sky, and Zooma. (Pay Patrol was Daughter’s fav before MLP.) I haven’t paid that close attention to that show, but I’m pretty sure Zuma’s a boy, and Wikipedia agrees: > [@Wikipedia's Paw Patrol page](#): > > Zuma is all about the water! This Chocolate Labrador loves to laugh and surf. He lives in his boathouse and dives into action in his hovercraft. In “Pups Save a Super Pup”, he briefly drives Rubble’s digger when Rubble becomes trapped in a train tunnel, albeit very poorly. Apparently, he’s not afraid of anything, since in “Pups Save a Toof”, while Ryder picks each pup to tell what they’re afraid of, he skips Zuma. The pup also seems to have a slight speech impediment when it comes to saying the letter R. He and Rocky are best friends. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/77 "2014-04-09T00:00:25Z")
IIRC, _SpongeBob Squarepants_ has a main cast that’s almost entirely male, with the exception of the squirrel Sandy. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/78 "2014-04-09T02:25:26Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > …The ruler of the kingdom is a princess, and there’s no king or princes, so far as I can tell. In fact, according to my 4-year old, none of the ponies have fathers… There is a [King](http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/King_Sombra), but he was a King of another nation and was deposed before the time period of the show, so it’s not _exactly_ the same, but still you _can_ point to a king. It is interesting how there don’t seem to be many parents around the show, but there are ponies who are siblings and there is also pony dating and marriage, so it seems to be implied that parents do exist. Maybe pony culture is different and children leave home at an early age, maybe there was a war and most of the previous generation was killed, be creative. > [@Balance](#): > > Yes, there are named male ponies–the laconic Big Macintosh, for example, appears often and is generally presented as a strong, stoic, and sensible character… > All that said, there appears to be a substantial gender disparity. Based on crowd scenes, the ratio is probably on the order of 3:1, though some scenes show as much as 6:1… > tl;dr: Yes, there are fewer male characters than female ones, but there are reasons, and the male characters are generally not shown in a worse light than the females. Ey-yup! Big Macintosh is one of the most commonly recurring male ponies, but there are others in the show, including Shining Armor and Hoity Toity. Also, there’s one episode where Apple Bloom and her Cutie Mark Crusader friends actually try to administer a love potion to Big Macintosh (Apple Bloom’s big brother) in order to ship him with Cheerilee, who is administered her own dose. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/79 "2014-04-09T02:31:28Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > Daughter actually thought that Rainbow _was_ a boy. For a little while. The show must have cleared that up for her, at some point. She’s a tomboy, a girl who has some stereotypical masculine mannerisms or interests. But she’s definitely a girl. Some shippers (well, most shippers, lol) treat her as a lesbian. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375/80 "2014-04-10T22:02:28Z")
[sub]The following shouldn’t be taken for actual outright hostility towards **LinusK** , but it IS something that made me raise my eyebrows a bit and feel :dubious: [/sub] > [@LinusK](#): > > As an aside, **I used to play Rarity as bossy and stuck-up, just she looks that way**. (And because it’s hard to have a good story without conflict.) But she corrected me, and I’m not allowed to play her that way anymore. > [@LinusK](#): > > We do sometimes still do Rarity challenging Twilight for leadership. It used to be we didn’t know why Twilight was the leader, but it turns out she’s a Princess. (A Princess in training, but still.) I had a witch cast a spell on Rarity, which seemed to satisfy the Rarity is _not_ a bad pony rule. **She still - her toy version, I mean - still looks stuck-up and bitchy to me**. I find this quite interesting. You think Rarity is bossy and stuck up because that’s just how she looks to you, despite your kid correcting you. And then you figure out a way to have your way and keep playing her as the “bad” pony, even though the element of harmony (aka a characteristic of being a good person and good friend; each of the main ponies embodies a different element) that [Rarity embodies is _generosity_](http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Rarity#Personality). Sounds to me like you could benefit from watching the show a bit, since you haven’t learned not to judge someone based on how they “look”, yet. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-little-pony-the-most-sexist-show-on-tv/685375.md?page=5)