Straight-Menophobic

The trip to PV presented itself with lots of learning opportunites. I have always been "straight-menophobic". It probably stems from growing up gay and being bullied in school by straight boys. One tends to over generalize and assume that all straight men dislike you. I have always done well with straight women and have allowed my phobia to be a wall between myself and straight men. This has no doubt held me back at various points in my life. When in their company I find I have little to say. Can't really talk about cars, sports or girls. An internalized dialogue usually starts in my head about the fact that they won't like me. In PV I had the opportunity to socialize with a straight man from the States. He had a heating business, big hockey fan, liked cars, catholic and three kids. We didn't have much common ground. But everyday he choose to come over and sit with me for a couple of hours and "shoot the breeze". I realized that I am quite capable of carrying on a conversation with a straight man. So much so that he kept coming back. My world continues to open up and continues to get easier. This isn't to say that I am going out in search of befriending straight men around the world, but my phobia is gone. And that's a good thing.