Of course it made me feel dirty.

If I did my math right, I’m about 7 years younger than you, and even though I was one of the outcast, unpopular friendless kids from the start I can tell you that all of this sounds pretty spot on. I fancied myself an artist and got ridiculed for drawing romantic things (all of them were tame or even non-romantic). I remember one kid calling me out because “he could see TONGUE!” and another because there was a boy on top of a girl (he had saved her from a laser?). Of course it made me feel dirty.

Fast-forward to sophomore year of high school and my worst encounter with this sort of thing. My parents learned that I was dating a guy long-distance. My dad’s immediate words out of his mouth were that I was offering blowjobs wantonly at school to any and every guy, nevermind that I always came home right after school and never really went out. I hadn’t even had my first kiss yet. I didn’t have a first kiss until January of this year.