My (straight) learning curve, and a journey down the Rainbow-Bricked road

When I was in high school I didn’t have any close male friends; it wasn’t necessarily by choice or design, but for one reason or another that was the way it worked out. After coming to Duke, meeting new people and forging new even stronger friendships something remarkable occurred…I acquired straight male friends, and really close ones at that. It has truly been a new experience, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed.

[Note: this next bit might sound a little gender conforming, but please don’t take it that way…this is only a reflection of MY PERSONAL relationships with women and men, and is not a reflection of the traits of women and men as a whole]

There have been many great things that have come from my friendships with straight men, and I have learned a lot about them and learned a lot about myself. Some of the best parts have been just hanging out getting to know them…

· Its fun to have friends to talk sports too, and be able punch around some times.

· Its great to have someone to drink a beer with. I mean, “will be” great when I’m of age.

· Its fun to get to use the word “Bro” (although I can never do it with a straight face).

· Its great not to have to explain why during football season my Sundays (and Monday nights) are all booked.

· Its fun to watch a movie with a little more action, and a little less romance.

Now with all the wonderful things that have come with my newfound friendships, there have also been some stumbling blocks, and there are certain things I will never understand about straight guys…

· Guys can be a lot more heteronormative than girls.

· They can’t always understand why certain things are homophobic and offensive

· They are sometimes (often) sexist

· They can often be very unhygienic…lol, but really.

· I can’t, (or at least I fell I can’t) talk about my love life with them (and by love life I mean epic fail-but that’s a comedy for another post)

With all the good and the bad, I am very grateful that I have them as my friends. They truly mean a lot to me, and as I have learned from them they have also learned from me. As I acquired my first straight male friends, they got their first gay friend. So I will continue on my progress on my (straight) learning curve ,enjoying all the new adventures, and I will make sure they have some fun traveling down the rainbow-bricked road as well.