I mean, take the HBO hit show Girls. It deals with women's daily lives and stories from a woman's perspective and is made by a woman for women. Yet critics of both genders applaud it and its viewership transcends the gender boundary.
A show can have a primary audience, and that doesn't mean it's the only audience.

Being marketed towards a specific gender does not make the product FOR that gender. Legos and Hot Wheels are marketed towards little boys, that doesn't make them a little boys toy at all. They're toys. Plain and simple. Plus, gender is far too complex to sort into the 2 categories of Male and Female.

Being marketed towards a specific gender does not make the product FOR that gender.

It really does. I don't see why you're so defensive about it. As I said...

Does it mean men literally cannot purchase and/or eat Activia? No. But does it mean it's a product meant, by its manufacturer, to appeal primarily to women? Yes! And when someone says something is a "girls'" product, like a girls' show, that's what they mean!

When people say that something is a "boys' toy", they mean it was made with boys in mind. They don't mean girls can't play with them, they just mean it's made for boys. Like MLP is made for girls, but also enjoyed by men of all ages.

Look, you don't get to make up your own definition of terms. That's all I'm saying. Your claim that something being marketed to young boys doesn't make it for young boys is... self-refuting. "A toy for boys is marketed and made for boys" is a tautology.
Those things mean the same thing.

And when you go and say they don't, it just comes off as if you're somehow trying to defend the show from that label, like it's bad. It's not! Go ahead, watch whatever show you like, secure in the knowledge that it doesn't mean you're weird or anything.
But when you fight a purely semantic fight that's utterly beside the point of why the show has value in the first place (its target audience is immaterial when talking about its quality), you seem defensive and it does a disservice to your argument.

Besides, calling them "boys' toys" is merely a way to caracterize them. Saying they're a "toy, plain and simple" isn't an argument against gender-based marketing, it's an argument against adjectives.
"THEY ARE MERELY TOYS! NOTHING CAN BE CATEGORIZED! NOTHING HAS SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTES!" That's what you sound like.

I get that you're trying to be all progressive and "everyone can watch whatever they want and identify however they want", but there's a place to do that, and it's in politics and whatever, not in semantics. You have to speak the same English language as everyone, or else we just get caught up in little circular arguments that go nowhere, because we're fundamentally (and let's admit, just a little bit willingly) misunderstanding one another, and that's totally avoidable.
Maybe someday there will be no such thing as a "boy's toy". But today, there is.

Plus, gender is far too complex to sort into the 2 categories of Male and Female.

No no no, sexuality is far too complex to sort into those 2 categories.
But humans only have two genders. Between which we can cross, but still.

Also kind of a red herring.

You see, that's part of why the "brony" community gets **** on. You want to watch your cartoon? Fine! Nobody cares!
But when you start gratuitously defending yourself from the notion that it's "a girls' show", which it is, it's reflective of a deeper sense of insecurity, that somehow people are looking down on you because you watch a girls' show.

People will make fun of bronies because they watch the show, because society is like that. And instead of going down an actual constructive path like "it doesn't matter that it's a girls' show, because it has value", many bronies will jump to the emotional, knee-jerk response, which is to deny it altogether and go "it so isn't, you're wrong, there's no such thing".
And because there clearly is such a thing, you create an everlasting, grinding argument and source of grief for both parties.

You get gratuitous hatred from a community of critics who think bronies are deluded and insecure, and gratuitous hatred from a community of bronies who think they are being persecuted and misunderstood.
In that way, the bronies' sense of persecution becomes, in a small part, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So when somebody says you're weird for liking a girls' show, say that it doesn't matter and show them that it has its qualities regardless.
If they still think you're weird, you know what? **** them. You're not gonna convince them anyway, because they don't want to be convinced. They're small-minded, self-sufficient. You can't argue with someone who's convinced they have an answer already.

But you avoided the useless semantic bickering. You did your part and you were honest with yourself.
And then the only people who talk crap about you will only be doing it out of spite, and that doesn't last, because it's retarded, and people will eventually break out of it. Given time. Maybe a lot of it, but still.

It really does. I don't see why you're so defensive about it. As I said...

Actually, it doesn't. Being marketed towards a certain demographic gives expectations that said demographic will be the one most interested in it (whether it is buying a product, watching the show, etc). But that does not exclude the other demographics

The reason we have this conceived notion that certain products or programs are for certain demographics is because of our upbringing. More commonly, boys receive toys like action figures, cars, tools, etc...while girls receive barbies, toy kitchen sets, toy babies, etc

MLP is marketed mostly for young girls (or, at least, was)..but that does not exclude other demographics from it

Being marketed towards a gender doesn't make it for that gender..it just makes it marketed for that gender. Each gender is free to enjoy the entertainment luxuries of the others

The show's a god-**** breath of fresh, upbeat, colorful air in the world of dingy, dirty, hyper-realistic CG and 3D focused media. The characters, while using many oft-used tropes, are put into interesting situations that flesh out the world and character of the universe FiM created.

Hell, there's even commentary on the free market system.

Mind you, I'm not the biggest fan of bronies, I personally prefer /mlp/'s connotation of "nor/mlp/erson" or "ponyf@g", but that doesn't mean I love the show any less.

-Chillz

Well, about all this stuff about something targeted towards one audience not being allowed for another, led me to this. This one picture should solve all the problems. I assure you. I'm not joking one bit. Here it is.

Enjoy! >:D

At least we can all agree that this show isn't as great as ronies say they are.

ronies

Bronies*

I find the show interesting.
But someone else would [imply] its good.