People Are Sharing Things They Were Bullied For That Are Now Trends, And My Heart Hurts

    "When a new Marvel movie comes out, I’m the guy everyone turns to. There was a time when I got shoved into lockers for knowing this stuff."

    Morgan Sloss
    by Morgan Sloss

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Recently, Reddit user u/xtaliaxw posed the question, "What is something you were bullied for growing up that has now become a trend?"

    NBC

    Here are some of the most interesting responses:

    1. "Bushy eyebrows. I wound up plucking them to death in the '90s, and they’ve never recovered."

    —u/hamanya

    2. "For eating 'weird' food. I'm Indian. My mum used to make me biryani for my school lunches, and other kids would give me such shit for it. A common refrain was, 'Ewwwwww, why are you eating YELLOW FOOD??'"

    "Now everyone's losing their damn minds over turmeric and acting like it's going to cure cancer or some shit. Y'all bastards made fun of me for years for eating turmeric, and now you're putting it in your lattes. Smh."

    —u/FauxPoesFoes228

    "Korean food. Kimchi and lettuce wraps were not cool when I was a kid."

    —u/kwonyewest

    3. "I got plastic frame glasses in seventh grade. I was bullied by students and teachers. Later, everyone had plastic frame glasses, with some people even wearing fake glasses."

    —u/airhornsman

    Young person wearing large, plastic-frame eyeglasses
    Getty Images

    4. "Now when a new Marvel movie or show comes out, I’m the guy everyone turns to for the backstory on their new favorite character. There was a time when I got shoved into lockers for knowing this stuff."

    —u/LionMaru67

    5. "I hated having hand-me-downs as a young kid, especially since they were often from richer kids at my church. They'd see me in the clothes and say stuff. But by the time I was in high school, thrifting and 'vintage' were cool."

    —u/joelluber

    6. "My hair. I have tons of it, and it’s very curly. My cousins used to call me Marge Simpson. Then natural hair care actually became a thing, and I learned to embrace my hair. Now it’s my signature. I get stopped a few times a week by people to tell me they love my hair."

    —u/nononanana

    A person rocking a loose, large Afro
    Getty Images

    7. "Having a big butt. Now women have surgery to get butts like I've always had, but being a young person in the late '90s/early 2000s, when the trend was to be underweight with a flat ass, was loads of fun."

    —u/ayarbee

    8. "Asian music! I’m not Asian, but I got really into Japanese rock and Korean pop when I was in middle school. I wasn’t annoying about it, but I did decorate my school stuff with pictures. I got bullied for it a lot, but now K-pop specifically is such a big deal."

    —u/moonycove

    9. "I grew up poor, and sometimes my jeans or shorts would have holes and tears in them where they were worn out. Now I see people buying jeans new from the store that already have holes and tears. Little did they know, I was living 20 years in the future."

    —u/Nick_6560

    Person sitting on a bench and wearing jeans with large holes at the knees
    Getty Images

    10. "Big lips. I got teased as a kid, but now I watch those same people who called me names get lip fillers. WTF."

    —u/iron_annie

    11. "Being a 'nerd.' Programming computers, playing D&D, playing musical instruments, and building stuff out of electronics and/or mechanical components."

    "My friends and I got picked on a lot for this in the late '80s and early '90s. It seemed to subside until the early 2000s, when a bunch of guys with beards and tattoos showed up and told us to get out of their space. 'We're doing nerd stuff, and you wouldn't understand it,' they'd say."

    —u/mofomeat

    12. "My first year of college in the early '90s, my roommates all made fun of me and called me a hillbilly for wearing flannel/plaid shirts. Then Nirvana and grunge blew up, and it was a sea of flannel as far as the eye could see!"

    —u/jasonsmithatlanta

    Person with a beard wearing a flannel shirt
    Getty Images

    13. "Watching anime."

    —u/aprotinin

    14. "Gaming! Especially as a girl. I was seen as an alien."

    —u/StrawberryCreaaam

    "Man, we really went from 'oNLy bOys cAN PLay gAMes!' to 'OMG, it's a cute gamer girl; please send me nudes!!' Bruh."

    —u/Pizzapro68

    15. And finally, "Having freckles! Oh, the taunts of 'Freckle face, freckle face, nah nah nahhh.' And now it’s trendy to draw on freckles."

    —u/Cirrus-Ramparts

    Smiling person with many freckles and red hair
    Ninamalyna / Getty Images / iStockphoto

    Were you bullied for something that's now a trend? Let me know in the comments below.

    Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.