I just came across this post on GeekDad about a first-grade girl bullied for carrying a Star Wars lunchbox. It’s a couple of years old, but it resonated with me.
Why? I didn’t carry a Star Wars lunchbox. I’m old. I pre-date Star Wars. But I was an Adam-12 fan, and I carried a lunchbox from that show.
One morning, as I was walking to my class, two boys started to taunt me. It went like this:
Boy #1: You’re a boy.
Me: I’m a girl.
Boy #2: No, you’re a boy. Only boys watch Adam-12.
Me: That’s not true. I’m a girl, and I watch Adam-12.
Boy #2: That means you’re a boy.
Me: No, it doesn’t. Look, I’m wearing a skirt.
Boy #1: That just means you’re a boy in a skirt.
Me: . . .
Look, if you’ve been reading this blog, you know that this is where the conversation ended. And it didn’t end because I ran away crying, or because a teacher put a stop to it.
No, it ended because I hit Boy #1 in the head with my lunchbox. Which was full, because it was morning. And made of metal, because that’s what lunchboxes were made of.
You know what happened? Nothing. I didn’t get in any trouble, either at home or at school. I’ll bet neither of those boys was willing to admit that someone they saw as a victim was completely unwilling to fill that role. And maybe, just maybe, they thought better of pulling that kind of crap with some other little girl. The only thing that happened was that I got a dent in my lunchbox.
I’ve always been proud of that dent.
Photo by Andrew Baron, via Flickr.