A Gem From the mouth of a child regarding ‘gayness’
One of Nathans [much older] friends today said to me in the context of a conversation about another child who’d just had his ears pierced:
“Getting both of your ears pierced if you’re a boy means you’re GAY!’
Me: “Err, no it doesn’t.”
Child: “Yes it does, only GAY boys get both of their ears pierced.”
Me: “Do you know what gay means, what it actually means?”
Child: “No…”
Me: “It means you’re attracted to people of the same gender as you.”
Child: “That’s all it means!?”
Me: “Yes. Do you see why I think it has nothing to do with piercings of any kind?”
Child: “Yeah but…that’s what my mum said.”
*internal struggle because you cannot EVER ever criticise or disagree with something a parent has said/done to their child because it results in WAR a lot of the time*
I told him it was true in some cases in the past, but much less so now, that some gay people got particular piercings or other decorations, because it used to be illegal to be gay and…I told him it helped them identify other gay people without having to say it aloud and deal with the negative consequences. I said that in my opinion using the word gay to insult someone is wrong and absurd, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with being attracted to who you’re attracted to. Gay people aren’t hurting anyone and you will not become gay by being around other gay people.
This is all very simplistic, but I was dealing with a child under 10 at the time, who is also NOT my child, and I thought it best not to in to it too deeply - whilst not feeling comfortable letting it slide.
Maybe with someone over 12 I’d have gone into more depth about homophobia and heterosexual privilege. And explained that’s why people FEAR THE INFECTIOUS GAYS, because they’ll lose their poxy straight privilege if they catch the gay.
Every time someone says something that perpetuates a negative stereotype to their child I want to bash them over the head and tell them not to pass their bigotry on to the next generation. I will be cold in my grave before I ever let my son get away with using words like ‘gay’ or ‘faggot’ or ‘tranny’ as pejoratives.
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genderbitch said:
I love the “that’s all it means?” Shows that he can get on the right path.
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