So earlier this week

I was at the mall (not work) when this group of teenagers came in, loud and obnoxious, lookin' like they'd just crawled out of the clearance rack out of Hot Topic. There was about two or three short girls and then this one dude, not much taller than the rest, whom one of the girls clung on to like she was about to drown. They were probably in middle school, so I had no idea why they were at the store at like 9 a clock at night, but their conversation pretty much went something like this (or the best I can remember):

"If I'm a faggot, then you're a female lesbian!"
"No, you're a female lesbian!"
*Roaring, squeaky laughter*



Man, and this kept going on and on. They walked away, but I could still hear them yelling out the homophobic slurs. They walked past twice, and then sweet baby sugar face Jesus, finally disappeared.

Is this like a stage everyone in middle school has to get through? I remember being that stupid, unfortunately. But saying that, does this mean that it was all fine and well for them to be running around the store, screaming like that? No. So part of me wonders if it's just a lack of education, or understanding on their part. Or maybe it's just a lack of caring....they certainly didn't care about their hygiene.

To be fair, high school is not much better sometimes. I'm lucky because I'm old enough to get into more advanced classes so I'm not stuck with people with often lesser propriety, and my social group is pretty small, but fantastic and accepting and intelligent. Certainly have enough sensitivity and tact to at least keep bigotry to themselves, in any case.

But sometimes I still find the assholes. I see boys---jocks, mostly--- run around, yelling homophobic slurs, hitting on each other, pretending to be gay, all in the name of teasing each other, having fun. That wouldn't bother me as much as it does if there wasn't so much condescension in their voices as they do. Like it's a bad thing, like it's wrong, unmanly, unnatural.

Girls do it too---we side-eye other women who don't wear makeup or don't wear the right clothes, warily giving them cold-shoulders because the common misconception/theory that if a girl doesn't wear makeup or chooses not to dress up everyday, she must be a lesbian. Actually, no---the only thing that makes a lesbian a lesbian is a girl who is sexually & romantically into other girls. Some girls don't wear makeup because they don't have time, or they like themselves enough not to, or they simply don't want to. I didn't wear make up for the longest time, actually, because it embarrassed me. I didn't feel pretty enough to wear it, as absurd as that is. I felt like a clown with face paint---and I'm pretty sure there were days where I looked like one, too.

Lesson is? Think before you speak....and use deodorant.