I adore this Zecora!! Rainbow Dash with 7 Inspiration looks completely crazed, I love that too- but more focused attention for Zecora is great.
(Continuation of this post!)
...As I said, all of this is my personal feelings- and I am far from qualified to make studied or scientific assertions on any of it. (Take this with a grain of salt and mercy, please!)
Since the toys themselves are evenly appealable, but the marketing isn't... if you were a child who was more appealed by the "opposite gender's toys" it became it's own sub-group to identify with. I was a little girl in the 1990s who liked "boy's stuff" so that made me a "tomboy"- my very own little group to identify with, my very own little "elite club" that I could exclude people from, just like the marketers intended (although this club was a little more removed from their original intent.) I was aware it was a little removed, even, so I felt even more elite- I fought the power, in my mind, so I was even better!
I was proud of being a "tomboy" and this meant the classic "I'm not like other girls" kind of mentality. It had me shunning girl-marketed toys (and other activities) by principle, rather than merely interest.
I don't know how much this effected by toy choices, really. I've forgotten a fair amount of things, but I know my interest was (and, lets be real, still is) 100% aligned with "animals!!!" anyways... so human-figure toys (girls or boys) weren't ever going to be my thing.
However, it did effect my perception of those "other girls" and what they were interested in! I thought it was silly, weak, and superficial. It was lesser to me.
Now, swap back over to the perspective of those "other girls" who do like the things marketed toward them... they've got boys excluding them, they've got "tomboys" excluding them, they've got a whole society of misogyny that excludes them... but they're interests align with these things, so what now? Well, "my group" has to be the "best group" so now that exclusion is a sense of pride. Just like my mind as a "tomboy", they "fought the power" to chose the "lesser" group, and it makes them better.
Now, lets introduce My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
