While growing up I found it easier to be friends with a group of girls. This doesn't mean that I didn't have guy friends, but most of my closest friend were women. Within the last couple of months though I've weirdly found myself surrounded by only dudes!
Now that my close circle of friends are guys, I'm realizing that guys I'm realizing when together guys say the dumbest things. Here is a list of 5 annoying things straight guys say (from a gay guy).
1. "No Homo"
You won't believe (actually you probably will) how much straight guys are obsessed with gay guys. Lately, I've just been telling my friends, "you know we gay guys don't talk about you as much as you talk about us." It seems like in order to affirm their sexuality (and self-esteem) straight guys always have to remind each other that they're not gay. They do this by pointing out the gay qualities in each other. It's as if they're trying to spray on gay-proof sheen on each other to protect from any gay influences. It may seem like all fun and games, but this is actually kind of hurtful. I've already trained my friends not to say the F word, and this phrase is next to go.
2. "She could get it," "I'd F*** that," or anything pertaining to sex.
Oh my god boys, you're not gay, you have sex with women. I get it. Boys love to talk about sex. They love looking at girls's butts and boobs and talking about what they'd do with them sexually. Listening to them talk like that is starting to make me wonder if I talked like this with my girl-friends (probably). The worst thing though is when you get a drink in their hands. Suddenly their talk starts to sound more like an inevitability, and a little rape-y. Once you get a drink or two in them my straight friends suddenly turn into college frat boy wannabes, and it's a little concerning. Stay strong ladies. Straight boys are nice normal people, but they're also... kinda dogs.
3. "I can beat that."
Straight boys love competition. I mean LOVE it. In another excuse to fluff their self-esteem and prove their masculinity, straight boys love to yell at each other and fight in a myriad of competitions. Maybe it's because I wasn't very athletic or competitive growing up, but all these power plays just tire me out. To be fair, everybody competes because that's the game of life, but men do it the most.
4. The "P Word"
Again, boys always have to assert their dominance over others. This goes so far as to just the societal use of the "P word" to put down women. The equate it with something weak or pathetic so that they can place themselves at a higher place. This leads to the unconscious (or perhaps very conscious) placing of gender roles and the placing of men at the top of the food chain.
Now if I can be frank for a second, I would suggest we change this wording. We should start using balls instead of the "P word." After all, boys and their balls are so sensitive, if you hit or insult them once they start rolling on the ground. At least a P word can take a beating.
Bonus Round:
While there are many things that my straight guy friends say that I wish they didn't, there are many things they say or do that I respect. We are all different, not just in our sexual orientations or the culture we grew up in because of it, but also our own personalities and life stories as well. Different or not, we are family.
My two straight male roomamtes are my two best friends and I consider them brothers. All our other friends who have made up our social circle are nice cool guys who made my daily life fun. While sometimes they annoy me, I'll always appreciate them (though me saying this might be too gay for them). This sense of brotherhood, while often surrounded by hyper-masculinity, is something I'll always cherish and is an important part of my college career.
