I think it's not so much social norms but more of how there are certain bronies who shove MLP in everyone's face and then bronies as a whole get that bad reputation. Of course, social norms have a role in people's antagonism towards them, but it's really just the a**h***s that are like "MLP MLP MLP MLP" on every forum they go to and DEMAND respect and equality until they leave/are banned. I personally have no problem with bronies, as I know a couple who are very moderate and I know the neckbeard fedoraists don't represent them all. I think the same thing applies for a lot of other fandoms such as furries but I won't go into that.

Possibly due to it not being the social norm. The stereotype is just a show for girls etc. I don't look down on most of the community just the Cloppers, and ones who see the need to bring it up on every chance they get on websites like youtube, that's taking it way too far imo. I think its sad that those people ruin the communities overall image. There's a point where people take something way too far. Not all bronys are bad like so many seem to think. I hate all these stereotypes surrounding the topic of MLP people should be more accepting of what people like. Im sure they wouldn't like people saying anything bad about what they are interested in. One or a few people don't represent one fanbase or shouldn't. 

Sometimes concern is warped into something twisted. One reason may be because of concern. Some person (a parent, in this example) starts off concerned that their male child is becoming a pervert because he's watching something created primarily to appeal to a young female audience. The concern turns to panic, and the panic turns to unrealistic thoughts and fears, and before too long, that child that was once loved is now hated.

It takes effort to keep caring for others. It's not something that just "happens". It happens because people take the time and thought to care. There's a reason why many caring acts are described as "thoughtful". Warp and twist that thought, and it turns into something powerful and dangerous. This is one of two roots at the center of hatred for bronies. The other is peer pressure. The world is a dark and twisted place, and yet light still shines upon it.

If you think that MLP is lame, then watch the show with a clean, open mind and see how you feel. You cannot say it is lame "because it's silly", "because it's for girls", or just "because". Just because something has a target audience does not mean that those outside the target audience cannot enjoy it. I've been playing a lot of Inazuma Eleven recently, and I enjoy it a lot. Those with fresher minds than mine would probably enjoy it even more. Those with genius minds...well, it might be a nice diversion. But I can't say I'll stop playing it any time soon.

You may argue that the show is best watched by its target audience. Perhaps this is true. But you cannot argue that the show is best watched ONLY by its target audience. Are there many perverts who watch the show? Probably. But that would have nothing to do with the show itself at all. An atheist can watch a Christian movie, but that wouldn't make that movie a movie about atheism.

If the show is good, if it is enjoyable and can uplift people, I say why not? I want to be happy, and if this show makes me happy, why not watch it?

That said, MLP is not my favorite show. There are certain episodes I absolutely love to death, and others I'm not very fond of. I feel the show caters to its target audience a bit too much. It's a crazy balancing act, and I don't hold anything over Mrs. Faust's head (or any of the writers). I don't want MLP to change what it is at its core. But it doesn't appeal to me as much as it could. That's OK.

But I will be a Pinkie Pie fan 4 lyfe. SMILE! (but seriously, I never want to see Smile HD EVER again. If you have never seen it, do NOT look it up. For your own sake, and for the countless others who love good, sweet, party-loving, innocent Pinkie Pie).

I have two words to describe this in a nutshell: social stigma.

TL;DR for below: people don't like change.

Full:

Social life as a whole recently has begun seriously changing.  New things are popping up every day which provide new ways to keep in contact with others.  It's just something that happens, but as a whole, society likes consistency and anything breaking that consistency is a threat.  Males of any age liking anything socially sorted into the "for girls" category are abused on all sorts of levels, whether that may be they play with Barbie but otherwise are your classic tough guy, they get looked down on because of that one thing.

Local Moderator : This is slightly off-topic, but relevant on the topic of how messed up our modern society is, and has nothing to do with the TL;DR above.  If it is against the site rules please delete it, but I found nothing regarding staying partially on topic while branching out a bit, so...

Say you have a teenage girl.  She has a blog of some sort where she posts pictures of herself to try to raise her self esteem, only to get hit with negative comments ranging from "ugly" and "s***" to "no body will ever love you" and "kill yourself."   Now, moving forward to when she takes that last message and goes forward with it, society as a whole switches from negative comments to "Oh she was so beautiful, she was so loved, why did she do that" and so on and so forth.  Take this and apply it to the Brony fandom, and you have what happens.  There have been bronies who have done that, then get comments of "why did he do that" and "oh my god that's so sad" from the people who were bullying him, often with the words "it's just a kids show" attached to them, from what I have seen.  So, there you have it, society itself is the problem with groups of people not being accepted.

Daionor : I have no problem with any of this post it may be slightly off tangent but its still a valid point regardless

I'm not really a hater, and I do tolerate bronies, but I look down upon them a little. Words from my perspective, someone who was a brony for a year then turned against them:

1. The main thing is that many of us are disturbed. Men from ages 13-40+ watching a show for little girls (the recommended age is 3-9). Just think about it. Why don't you watch Care Bears? Dora the Explorer? Care Bears is almost exactly the same as My Little Pony, yet there aren't Bro-Bears or whatever.

2. Rule 34. Probably the second most popular franchise in cartoon or animated pornorgraphy (only behind Pokemon) is My Little Pony. How many of you bronies have "clopped" before? People are disgusted by the idea of grown men in their late twenties creating or watching pornography of a show for 6-year-old girls.

3. The stereotypes. These don't bother me, but this is a huge reason why people look down upon Bronies. Most bronies are gay. Lots of people don't like gays. Lots of people think bronies are pedophiles (refer to reason 2). Something people don't get is that it's not really pedophilia if you're into characters from a show for little girls. It's only pedophilia if you're into the little girls themselves.

tl;dr It's a show for little girls, people are disgusted by rule 34, and lots of people don't like gays or pedophiles.

I mean no offense at all in my reasons. I'm simply answering the question OP posed.

TheFadedWarrior : Thanks for your replies everyone but i think it is time for this thread to be closed down

Allow me to state my opinion from a Non-Brony why the f**k do people do these things and I'm not talking about the Bronies I'm talking about the haters of them. You see here is how I live life I like every person no matter how strange or somewhat disturbing there hobbies may be and I respect there hobbies and know that it is just what they like. Now for me to hate a person they have to do something that is worth hating like JB he has deserved all he has gotten. But Bronies have not deserved it they are ridiculed for no reason just because they like a F**king girls show people how about I say this I love The Powerpuff Girls it is one of my favorite show on Cartoon Network so now are you going to call me gay, a f*g, going to tell me to go kill myself for liking a show intended for girls huh are you? Well for those of you who say that how about you go f**k yourself I like what I like the same way Bronies and even you like we just like different things. I'm not a Brony nor do I hate them I just want this f**king bulls**t to stop. To all you haters out there how about you stop this s**t ok go and get a 1000 kill streak on COD while eating a f**k ton of Doritos and drinking another f**k ton of Mountain Dew and have fun destroying all the scrubs and all that crap because here is a thing I like to do when I don't like something I don't go to it and call it all those names and tell them to go kill themselves. I just go away and never even go near them allowing both of us to carry on with our lives. So I ask you all you haters out there the next time you meet a Brony how about you just walk away and everyone is happy you don't have to be near them and they won't feel bad about themselves. So how about you think about that one because you hating something for no reasonable reason is getting on my nerves and makes me want to commit mass genocide on all of you and I do not care if I go to jail for it. You have caused me to hate all of you and that is something that is not easily gotten but you pushed me over the f**king line so you know what I'm going to do I'm going to walk away from all of you haters and not socialize with you because it is okay to not like something but to call the people who do like it gay or anything else how would you feel if something you liked was ridiculed by people the same way as you ridicule the Bronies. Now I'm going to leave all of you now with that knowledge you do not know how long I have been wanting to say all of this and I hope that one day all this bulls**t stops thank you for your time in reading this I need to go and get some fresh air before I have a migraine from the shear stupidity that some people have bye.

-Boured-

18mlivingston : Wow... i can actually feel the rage in that comment, nice job man i feel the same.

GlazedKitten : Yes I am quite pissed off at those people but don't worry I'm okay with it I'm just going to avoid them and socialize with people who have the understanding greater than a 5 year old and hope to never socialize with those people again yay :3

No one likes the extremist in any culture/fandom, and likewise most people only look at the extremist. Though I did eventually had to leave the fandom when the "troll anyone who wasn't a brony" trend started.

I think a lot of the 'looking down on' got started because soooome more vocal and prominent "Bronies" in the beginning turned out to be actually creepy/stalkerish and into pedophilia-type things. It gave everyone a bad rap that hasn't been gotten over, yet.  When more attention got turned to it, people decided adult men who liked a show about magical ponies was creepy in general, because hey, SOME of them actually were that way, right? *snort*

It's the same social stigma that girls get for liking things like comics or Transformers. And a few bad apples ruin it for everyone else who just want to quietly enjoy the things they like. 

GlazedKitten : i don't really know. i could be called a clopper, but does it matter? they just freak out way too much about what other people like. they should just leave well enough alone. but i understand, some creepy pedophilish bronies like yunimori said. but they set stereotypes, and it sucks. i don't flaunt that i clop. the people who ruin it for everybody :/ and i don't even that much!

Most people believe they are gay and in some cases they have been reported doing sick abnormal things. There are basically a lot of reasons why bronies are looked down on that I can't possibly said out loud in this thread.

I know this is a bump, but I have noticed a decline of the "brony hate"...I recently joined a clash of clans android game. When I joined a random clan, I didn't believe my luck when I told them I was a brony... They pretty much said so what, good for you. A few showed interest, yet the rest said just let it be! This isn't the first time either. Many a time in real life I have "bronied out" in front of a few people, yet they don't mind. That being said, I really think at least in my eyes, people are not judging books by the cover too much anymore when it comes to the bronies. Thank goodness too.

Totally ended up here by mistake; I thought it said brownies... I want one bad now. But, glad I'm here; yes I wonder what the heck is wrong with this? Everyone should be allowed to like whatever they want. Actually, my four year nephew said he wanted a doll recently. He has a massive collection of Hot wheels and race tracks, and pirate ships, and most of his games on his iPad are "mainly" but, hey he saw this stupid ridiculous doll that I cannot remember the name of and it costs about $300 and he wants it. He loves My Little Pony now that doesn't make him a girl or should be made fun of. I think society is stupid and highly full of its own crap.

A lot of the brony hate has, luckily, been on decline, as well as many similar fandoms featuring a group that seems far from the target audience. Most of the reasoning behind it is simply due to knowledge. Not as many people are ignorant about them and what they really mean, and more people who do know are willing to step in and explain it to others. Before, people simply slandered it by just spreading that they're a bunch of perverted Cloppers without discretion. At one point it was so bad, to the point where my brony friends and I would joke around about it often. Although, at the end of the day, what does it matter if they are or aren't so? They aren't going out and actually being criminals, doing things that I can't quite express on this thread, so who needs to care what they do?

I mean, my maxim has always been to live, and let live. If I said any of that sort of hate was justified for this, as well, then I'd be a pretty massive hypocrite; many Kirby fans are very similar in how they push it into everything they touch (they have their own way of "ponyfying" everything, too), although it is a bit more underground overall than MLP (even though that really doesn't say much). Ultimately, the actions of a section of a fanbase, especially the extremist section, do not exemplify the entirety of it.

And honestly, I think the "intended audience" thing is dumb. While I don't watch the show, I have at least tried to watch the show, and I actually vastly respect it for what it is and everything it does right. It has memorable, fun characters (although I don't care for all the puns they spill everywhere), an enjoyable setting, and overall neat ideas. Regardless of its intention for audience, it will attract others outside of that audience because it just has objectively good things strewn about it. That's how things work.

I've been pressured before to stop caring about Kirby and Nintendo as a whole through the "intended audience" argument before, and honestly, it's just insulting to people who are shamed through that argument. The only thing that should matter to anyone is whether you enjoy it. If you don't, leave it be and don't sit there tearing apart anyone who does, and if you do, don't feel ashamed for it.

I'm glad that people are at least being less ignorant on it as a whole, though, and I hope the trend continues.