Homophobia and boys’ cut

Long hair is very high maintenance and never appealed to me much. I always dreaded detangling my hair and my shoulder length hair used to make the back of my neck itch. As a result I used to get the shortest possible version of a bob cut. I wasn’t very fond of my hairstyle and preferred a pixie cut or boy cut to a bob cut, but I could never work up the courage to get my preferred haircut. The only obstacle being my homophobia. 

I studied in an all girls’ school till 10th grade. As I stepped into my teenage years, I saw my seniors dating other girls and my classmates talking about having sexual feelings for other girls and it was all very new for me. Most of us thought that these girls were acting silly due to the lack of boys in our school. (This is what lack of sex education does to kids).The queer community of our school didn’t know how to assert their identities or express themselves, hence they all ended up getting a boy cut. All of these seemed fun and games to me until in 7th grade a friend of mine walked up to me and confessed her feelings. I had always liked boys, hence the idea of liking girls seemed very revolting to me (since it didn’t come to me naturally) and her confession made me want to run in the opposite direction. This girl and I were the class representatives so I couldn’t very well avoid her.So, my stupid younger self thought I must get rid of her feelings for me and started being as mean to her as possible. That’s when my homophobia started. I didn’t have the faintest idea about the concept of being queer and homosexuality back in the day. As a result of all this I couldn’t muster up the courage to get a boy cut lest others thought that I was into girls and the thought of getting another confession made me shudder.

Teenage years are confusing times and it’s very hard to wrap your head around a lot of things dealing with sexuality. Then, I grew up and read about the queer community and various gender identities on the internet. My views slowly began to change and I understood my friends’ choices. Now, I’m proud of my friends who have come out of the closet and are expressing themselves freely on social media. Kudos to them!

Last year I had apologized and made up with the aforementioned friend of mine(She being the nice person that she is, was quick to forgive me for my ignorance and naivety). While I got my favourite haircut today: a layered boy cut!

To all the parents reading this, please consider educating your children about homosexuality and gender identities. This would save your kids a lot of trouble and confusion. 

Thank you for reading this blog and giving me your time. Have a great New Year ahead! See you soon 🙂