I can’t even remember what started the conversation but at some point he scoffed, “You’re not really bisexual. You’ve never had sex with a woman. You’re just in college.”

You’re just in college.

I hate that phrase. I hate it with the burning fires of a thousand Taco Bell sauce packets. It’s the same thing my dad said to me. I could go on and on about the highly sexualized culture straight men are exposed to with the popularity of porn with women touted as “barely legal” and “willing to do anything.” But, goddammit, I hate that phrase. It trivializes my entire experience. It flushes every suppressed crush, every confused scrawl in my journal, every effort I’ve made to legitimize my own feelings as I grew to accept them….. Right down the toilet.

As far as the average straight man knows, I’m “gay for the stay” by virtue of my age because, obviously, college for girls is all about sexual experimentation, pillow fights in lingerie, and soaping each other up in the shower, right?

I tried to explain that I had developed crushes on girls long before I discovered boys but he was having nothing of it. He finally shrugged and went back to microwaving his leftover Chinese food while repeating that horrible phrase. “You’re just in college. But I’m not going to start an argument with you.”