Behind Closed Doors: My Little Porny

If you're an avid porn watcher—and let's face it, all of on here are—then you've probably stumbled across "My Little Pony." It's a veritable Hasbro nightmare, but it's amassed quite a bit of popularity over the years. So much popularity, in fact, that PornHub recently compiled a study on related search terms based on demographic. It's amazing—there are pastel-colored infographics and everything. After combing through the data, though, the writer in me had one major question: Why My Little Pony porn?

So I set out to answer just that. How did "My Little Porny" come about (yes, you heard that right), and why is it so incredibly popular? Spoiler alert: After much research and several MLP trailers later, I think I actually get it. Allow me to take you on a journey, starting at the beginning. 

The Old MLP 

The very first thing that today's Bronies will tell you is that "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," the show that inspired so many fans that there's an annual convention, is an entirely separate thing from the show of the '80s that accompanied the toys we used as kids.

That version of MLP catered to little girls and was unsurprisingly feminine and fluffy—something it's not now. My Little Pony became relatively obscure throughout the 2000s, only resurfacing when Hasbro started its own network and pitched the idea for a revamped MLP show. They hired Lauren Faust, the woman who gave us shows like "Power Puff Girls." She's a genius who's cranked out witty cartoon after witty cartoon, and she's revered for her unconventional approach and male/female audience. Needless to say, what she put on the table was something totally different than what we'd seen in the past. 

The New MLP

"My Little Porny: Friendship is Magic" made it's debut in 2010, and people who'd intentionally or accidentally watched a few episodes all fell in love immediately—sort of like how the majority of us still watch "Spongebob Squarepants" when we're hungover. 

So many adults, both male and female, loved this show, in fact, that a community called the Bronies was quickly born. We have Lauren's quick wit and character development to thank for that. 

Despite their pixie-like appearance, the characters are not inherently feminine, and many men find the show just as entertaining and relatable as women—perhaps even more. And that's where things get interesting. 

The Rise of Porny

Where there's a group of young, enthusiastic men, there's a market for porn. It's not because they're all pervs, though. (They are, but that's beside the point.) It has to do with a sort of voyeurism. 

Think about your favorite show on TV right now. Whether is "Californication," "Entourage," or "Game of Thrones," you've probably thought about your favorite characters having sex, right? There's a rule on the Internet perpetuated by 4chan (Rule 34, to be exact) that goes like this: If it exists, there's porn of it. The same is true with TV shows. It's fun to watch strangers have sex, but it's even more fun to watch people you know (or in this case, know on TV) have sex. It's why hotwifing exists—it's just more of a turn on to watch someone you're familiar with commit a sexual act. 

Stable Stats 

That's more or less what draws people to MLP. People who love the show find it intriguing to watch their favorite character have sex. In fact, PornHub found that more often than not, people are searching their site by specific character name. 

Clopping is the term used when masturbating to MLP. Get it?

Anyways, many people who like MLP are also hentai, or Japanese cartoon porn, fans. It's a genre that's immensely popular with Millennials (take a shot if that's the third time you've heard that word this week), particularly among men. PornHub reported that the Porny audience is 80 percent male, with the majority of the pie going to 18-24 year olds. The U.S. and the U.K. are among the most avid of watchers, though central and eastern Europe seem the most interested of all. (Users in Belarus are 462 percent more likely to watch MLP.) 

Some Bronies refer to Cloppers (what they call fans of My Little Porny) as the black sheep of the community, as it's not inherently sexual on its own. Finding characters you like to be interesting from an erotic standpoint is very normal, though, and is especially interesting when you add in the juxtaposition between sex and rainbow colored horses. 

My verdict? More power to you, Bronies and Cloppers. It's tough to say if hentai will ever be for me, but I think I'm going to go check out this show now.