Your first encounter with gay/lesbian people?

[Johnw1104]

curl-6 said:

Johnw1104 said:

My experience from high school was that the open lesbians (only two that I can think of) were accepted fully whereas not a single guy was openly gay and it was the butt of every joke. It was very evident to me why guys stayed closeted with the way everyone else joked about it. I suppose, as a guy myself, I may not have been witness to how the girls might have treated one another though.

This was a little over a decade ago now... I imagine it's gotten better.

Gay men are definitely less accepted than lesbians, yes. Bullying methods though tend to vary by gender; where male bullies are more likely to openly verbally/physically attack their victims, female bullies tend to be more subtle; they ostracize, spread malicious rumours, leave nasty notes, deface the victim's property, etc. As such female bullying often goes unnoticed by all but the victim and perpetrators.

The incident I'm talking about was back in 2002-2005. Things have generally improved for gays and lesbians since then, though of course we still have a long way to go.

I have a sister and she has confirmed what you've said a thousand times over through the years. Male bullying was generally physical and blunt, whereas the way her circle of friends would gossip and scheme... I'm not really sure what to call it, but it was clearly destroying her at times.