A speaker recounts childhood bullying for their appearance and perceived femininity, describing how mocked traits like a large nose and skin color became internalized shame that still shapes how they see themselves.
Kids would make fun of like the size of my nose. So from the beginning, I'm like physically different. Like, okay, I look different to them and they notice. So that's something that gets stored inside, like nose too big, too brown, or actually brown. Let me see, let me see, let me see. And then of course bullying became a thing around like 5th grade because I was too effeminate. I didn't even know what gay was. I was like, what? Like, what am I doing wrong? Like, what? What is there something wrong with me? Okay, something else is wrong. too effeminate. Like, it seemed like a lot of little things that I did just were wrong. Like, I couldn't get it right. And it sticks with you, like, internally. You just automatically think I'm automatically— people see me as wrong or— Hmm.
