jenny & sue

dating

This indifference to the normalizing she experienced erupted again in our discussion of middle school. I asked both Sue and Jenny if they experienced any discomfort as hearing impaired students in middle school. Knowing full well how cruel teenagers are, and how intolerant of difference, both responded that they did not have problems socializing. I was intrigued. Growing up in a conservative, religious region and in fairly religious families, it seems neither Sue nor Jenny were troubled by their earliest experiences with dating - they didn't date in junior or high school, but neither did their friends. Both seemed to find it odd that I would ask about their romantic lives in high school and absolutely absurd that I would ask about boyfriends in middle school. Apparently I was looking for something that wasn't there, or that couldn't be there because of the difference in the regional culture, rather than the universal idea of adolescence I had formed my interview questions with.

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