Homo Sep 20, 2010 at 1:30 pm

Comments

1
"All I'm going to say in response right now, Cate, is that you'll definitely want to read this week's 'Savage Love'... and you should buy my book! PEACE."
2
Very insightful letter.
3
And I don't think it necessarily falls to Dan Savage to say this, but...

I went out of my way to physically challenge every bully I encountered in high school, taking specific pains to stand between my one gay friend who was actually out and anyone that wanted to fuck him up for being gay. Was he obnoxious? You know it. Is that a reason to be beat up? Fuck no. And the main thing I always noticed was that when a bully has more than one person to deal with, they stand right the fuck down, almost immediately.

Now: was a big part of the motivation feeling proud of myself for being such a noble, wonderful human being? Sure. Now: is that the worst motivation you've ever heard?

I guess my point is that I made myself feel like the macho badass I really wasn't by calling a bunch of scared boys out on their shit...I made myself feel like a macho badass by showing people who were generally considered to be macho badasses to be the cowards they actually were. It made adolescence a hell of a lot more awesome for me, and if I had some sort of public forum, I'd be suggesting it left and right: be a bully to bullies.

Please wait...

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