Perfect on Paper

by Sophie Gonzales

“But sir, think of the children. Us. We’re the children. We want more friends to play with.”

Isn’t it

more stubborn to use pronouns we don’t know, when our language caters to neutrality?”

“Because teenage girls are sweet and responsible and understand consent, and teenage boys are every father’s nightmare come true.”

Accurate

Hey, “Fuck it, whatever” was only a few degrees off of “Hell yeah, let’s do it!” Unless I was mistaken, I was starting to grow on him.

Everyone wanted to feel like they were worthwhile at the end of the day.

“Thank you. Basically, they’re ambivalent. They want to be close to people, but they’re also really scared of being close to people. And their emotions go all scrambled, and they want to be closer and further away at the same time. Like, if you feel rejected, you want to get closer, but then when it’s all working out, you suddenly feel trapped.”

“Don’t gaslight her. What she’s describing is internalized biphobia, and bi’s didn’t invent this shit. Society sends us that message. We’re made to feel like we’re not queer enough to hang with queer groups all the time.”

And maybe I don’t know what it’s like to be gay or lesbian, but I do know some people will never understand what it’s like to be queer and to blush every time you join in on a conversation about it because you feel like you’re treading on people’s toes, because when they say ‘queer’ they don’t mean you.”