Are Brony And Male Hello Kitty Fans Changing The Meaning Of Masculinity ?

My answer is no, instead style can be expressed by our masculinity and applied to items even if the items is gender specific.  Hello Kitty or My Little Pony is not changing masculinity but we change Hello Kitty and MLP to fit our or in spite of our masculinity.

I been thinking both is late as I am creating a Hello Kitty panel for a convention. I am a guy who been interested in Sanrio / Hello Kitty as a way to express my Fury culture interest. It is a in a way backlash to what I see as sameness of furry media. Most furry media is ether toony flat badge art or gay/straight twenty something with angst or relationship problems. I see Hello Kitty as something different way as a way to express my furriness but not supporting the noting of gender neutrality. I have recently started watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and like other guys and like the show. I do not see Hello Kitty or My Little Pony change the notion of gender differences but how style and taste is incorporated and express through our gender difference and even bypasses them. I like girly Hello Kitty items but I am not gay or transgendered, I am simple put personal taste, individual expression, and nonconformity above my own male gender nature.

One item I need to address; my liking of Hello Kitty Girly or not is not an endorsement of   militant feminist notion of gender neutrality. Boys are going to be boys and Girls will be girls. One way I seen how gender differences is played out is two online communities:  Hello Kitty Junkies and Equestria daily.  Hello Kitty Junkies is dominantly female 6000+ women vs. 125 men. Much of the focus is on acquiring items and shopping. While I enjoy the site I can note the difference of interest between me and female members. I would make new group reporting news about Hello Kitty or pictures from various conventions and not receiving very much response, yet pictures of my acquisitions do.   On the other side is the Bony site  Equstria daily which  is mostly male,  and focus is much more different  and broad mainly on the My  Little  Pony  through news, analysis, art, stories, and crafting.  I think the difference between the sexes is why a bunch of guys who like My Little Pony can create an event like Bronycon and attract thousands yet except for a few events The Hello Kitty Convention could not get off the ground in 2008. Do women prefer a trip to the boutique with a small group of intimate friends vs. men by the thousands get together at a Football game? Now substitute   Brony Con for football you get the same thing.  

We men  are not becoming less or redefining masculinity by liking My Little Pony or Hello Kitty but realizing as men can separate masculinity from aesthetics, style and personal taste. 

Catching up: Yuko Yamaguchi carries on as nurturing parent of Hello Kitty

There some interesting snippets in the article

Why she was hired:

“She became the third Hello Kitty designer in 1980, two years after joining Sanrio straight out of arts university. With her two predecessors having left the company and with Kitty’s popularity declining, Yamaguchi’s mission was to recover sales.”

And as for the future’

“Asked about her next challenge, Yamaguchi said she wants to attract boys.”

“I want boys to join the superhero Ichigoman fan club. Unlike other Sanrio characters, Ichigoman is a fighting character. We aim to make it into an anime and ultimately making it a TV series of a story about a hero.”

already  Sario Japan had put out an    Ichigoman short

IT kind of cute but can it really reach boys? I think Darkcapeman (the black kitty) is a beet fit.

Link to Story

Turning Attention to the Bathroom

For some time I wanted to puts some Hello Kitty n the bathroom. I missed that last puss at Target in 2009.

Bathroom

Hello Kitty Shower Curtain: $2.50 at an Yard Sale

Bath Mat: $19.99 at Target.

One happy male Hello Kitty fan: Priceless

I would not buy the Shopping style of shower curtain, but for $2.50 the deal was right.

Hello Kitty Science Project Wins Award and Trip to Regionals

Update: Ms. Rojas has won an award and will be going to the Reginald Science fair. We to go girl. Good Luck in the Regionals

I am glad unexpected  fame and world wide  attention did not jinxes her chances.  The judging was tough according to the report  and her video nor fame did not count.

Antioch teen’s ‘Hello Kitty rocket’ wins at school science fair – Contra Costa Times

“ANTIOCH — The weather balloon experiment that sent a Hello Kitty toy almost 18 miles above the Earth is now an award-winning science project that is sending its creator to a regional competition.”

Read News Report  here