Michael Morones is caught between life and death after a suicide attempt. Here’s why, and what you can do to help.
As ChicagoNow reports, 11-year-old Michael Morones is currently on life support after attempting to hang himself recently. He was the target of near-constant harassment and bullying from his peers, and seemingly felt he couldn’t take any more.
He didn’t get bullied because of his strong religious feeling, or his love of music. He got bullied, got called every ugly name for a boy who doesn’t perform masculinity hard enough for the bullies’ satisfaction, because he likes My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Specifically, his favorite pony is Pinkie Pie, the energetic party planner who loves nothing better than putting smiles on other people’s faces.
For the uninitiated, this is a show about magical ponies in a magical pony kingdom who have adventures and learn lessons about friendship. It’s marketed to young girls, but unlike too much media in that category, it’s really well-written, funny and sincere with engaging characters and good stories.
And that makes it a threat. Because guys liking girl stuff is, must be, horrible and evil and wrong. Otherwise the entire fragile edifice of performative masculinity might turn out to be hollow. Much better to bully a child to suicide than ever admit or even consider that possibility.
Some of what’s going on here is old-fashioned gender enforcement via bullying, the enforcement of femmephobia on a young boy. Some of it, though, is a backlash against something more specific. My Little Pony has been the subject of endless trend pieces and internet flamewars specifically because of the perceived novelty of guys liking a girl thing.
Girls are allowed to like guy things, because on a deep femmephobic level we feel like that’s trading up, going for something cooler instead of something worse. But if the reverse happens, even once? Why, that’s just so amazing and unusual and unique that we have to talk endlessly about it, dissect how it could happen, and if possible find ways to imply that adult male fans of the show must be pedophiles or something, because there’s no way they could like a girl show otherwise.
And every time we do that, we empower the kinds who bully boys like Michael Morones. They absorb the idea that it is right and proper to consider such behavior abnormal, weird, potentially threatening. So they wheel out the whole junior-high arsenal of pain and degradation and, inevitably, another Michael gets pushed past his breaking point.
Fortunately, there are things we can do to try to make this less of a tragedy than it might be. The ChicagoNow article lists several helpful suggestions, based on things that Michael’s coma seems to be responding to. There’s also a fundraiser here to help cover the costs of Michael’s treatment and hopeful rehabilitation. Right now, this minute, you can do something to in small part redress this terrible wrong.
Just don’t make a donation and then push another trend piece about those weirdo bronies, because that’s not actually helping.
We need to raise humanitarian children. Children who know that everyone has value and feelings and a right to be who they are. Children with empathy. This can only be taught by parents or mentors with these same values. Anyone can be a mentor. But a mentor must value that child, even a bully. You cannot teach compassion without compassion. Bullies are often terrified young people without a group, gang, family of support. Be there for that kid. Help them find the strength to stand alone – or that they are not alone. You are standing with them.
As we can see even the youngest of guys are not immune to the horrors of misandry. Hating this boy for being into something that guys “aren’t allowed” to be into is just terrible.
Boys and men need to be free to like whatever shows, toys, and games they like without it being held against them as proof that they are not “real boys”.
My heart breaks reading this. I wish Michael and the Morones family swift healing and love. When will our boys feel safe to be themselves?
My husband loves “My Little Pony” — I frankly have never been impressed by the show. I can testify that he is a man just not a stereotype of a man and I think our world and our boys would be a lot better off if we allowed them to be who they are, not who we think they should be.
This is heartbreaking. I hope he recovers, and lives a long, wonderful life.
The Bronies documentary on Netflix was great.
Everyone should watch it.
This is a prime example of how misogyny is literally killing our kids. My strongest and most fervent prayers that this little boy is on a road to a full recovery. Then he will awake and see how much love is coming to him, so many of us who want to just shower him with strength. All the My LIttle Pony community, so many other little boys and girls who are like him. So much love to this family, and to all the kids in the world who are strong enough to be themselves when society tells them not to.… Read more »
The boy was the one getting hated here, not any girl. The bullies didn’t want the boy to have the freedom to like My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Also, as this article indicates “girls are allowed to like guy things” but guys aren’t allowed to like girl things (according to bullies). The effect of such comes as that girls have more liberty with respect to their being, while boys end up more confined and have less liberty with respect to their being. So, boys end getting hated on here. Consequently, if anything, this is a prime example of how… Read more »
I think what Joanna means is that for men and boys, being “like a woman” or “like a girl” is the worst thing they can be. Boys and men are shamed for liking anything associated with the feminine, because femaleness is disdained. Because a boy who likes something associated with girls might be gay. The bullying of boys who like girl-related things is misogyny, because female things are despised and considered inferior, and are things boys and men should avoid. And as a woman, it deeply offends me.
being a gay boy is still being a boy. being a gay man is still being a man. neither of those are women. so as Doug stated it’s misandry not misogyny. stop co-opting this boy’s tragic abuse.
i’m a brony & i feel terrible about this. i’ll be donating some money just so that he knows that he’s not alone.
and yes the other websites are filled with comments implying that we are perverts or pedos. it’s annoying.
I rarely get to the point of crying because of the fucked up things that happen in this patriarchal absurd world, but this story brought me to tears. I hope with all my heart that the boy will recover and be alright!
My son is 12 and a huge Brony! We love it. We embrace it. He has even converted some of his friends into Bronies. This is so terribly heartbreaking.