My Gym Coach calls me a f*****t?

[The Flying Mako]

Ok so I was in gym one day and I heard my gym coach say " Hurry up and get dressed you faggots!" When he says stuff like that he isn't exactly helping to the bullying of people like me. Hes a nice enough guy and I don't want him to lose his job. What should I do?  

[airforce_freak6678]

Go to an administrator at your school and request that he be talked to, if this is a one time thing the most likely thing that will happen is that he will get pulled into a room with the principal, the school psychologist, and some other admins/support services, and just be verbally reprimanded. At VERY worst (which wouldn't happen unless this is an really bad case) he would be suspended, however it is highly unlikely that he would loose his job over this.  

[The Flying Mako]

Thanks that helped a lot ^^  

[airforce_freak6678]

Always happy to give advice! smile  

[Postpone]

Yeah, definitely tell an admin. He most likely doesn't mean to offend anyone, but just doesn't understand the full meaning of what he's saying. He'll have to get reported numerous times to loose his job, so don't worry about that.  

[Shanna66]

why not talk to him yourself about it? talking to an admin may end up getting him into trouble so try to resolve the problem yourself first and if he continues then go above his head  

[DJ Arctic Wolf]

you should probably talk to him about it. I mean, he may not thought of it as offensive b/c he's a gym teacher. Gym teachers are stupid. That's why they dont teach.

xp teacher joke there  

[Silver Sage-General]

Yeah it may be better to just talk to him about it. Gym teachers use degrading words like that, maggot, and others all the time so he may not have any harm. *shrugs*  

[Atrum_Anima]

I have never had a gym teacher use degrading language that I know of toward a student. That sort of thing is verbal abuse, and can be harmful to some even in a joking context. I would talk to the teacher about it, because, from my experience, administrators will do close to nothing. If he doesn't cooperate, I would try to get a hold of someone higher up than the principal, because they seem to be stricter about these sorts of things.  

[CheizLord]

Using that kind of language just isn't acceptable. Sometimes people can be ignorant to the hurt behind their words and don't realize the offense they can carry. I agree that you should go to an authority figure and have him reported if it happens again. At worst he'll be spoken to and warned about his use of language, and maybe he'll be more consciously aware of what he says.

Honestly if a teacher, even a gym teacher, in a school environment doesn't have the self control to contain himself after that he shouldn't be a teacher at all, especially if his use of the word f*****t is more than just an empty saying to him. He should be professional enough to keep his personal opinions and his work life separate and that includes his use of offensive language.  

[Jonathon Fett]

Some people need to grow a pair, and some thicker skin.

It's a Gym class. If he wasn't saying directly to you, then he was saying it to the class as a whole, and the intensity of the word is degraded exponentially. Gym teachers are supposed to be hard-asses. They're supposed to be mean. Quite oft, they coach a sport, so all they know is physical and mental attacks, and barraging of their pupils. Taking it personally like you is taking it to the next level. If you got that kicked, I'm certain that you would become "that kid" and would be insulted, heckled, picked on, and made fun of even more. So, unless you want to be the center of attention in the entire school, and be ridiculed, you should really not take it so offensively.  

[Atrum_Anima]

Jonathon Fett

Some people need to grow a pair, and some thicker skin.

It's a Gym class. If he wasn't saying directly to you, then he was saying it to the class as a whole, and the intensity of the word is degraded exponentially. Gym teachers are supposed to be hard-asses. They're supposed to be mean. Quite oft, they coach a sport, so all they know is physical and mental attacks, and barraging of their pupils. Taking it personally like you is taking it to the next level. If you got that kicked, I'm certain that you would become "that kid" and would be insulted, heckled, picked on, and made fun of even more. So, unless you want to be the center of attention in the entire school, and be ridiculed, you should really not take it so offensively.

For some, it's not just a matter of "growing a pair". The 'F word' can be a trigger word for victims of hate crimes, especially when a gym teacher yells it out recklessly to the whole class. I have a friend who has the 'F word' carved into her thigh; I can't even imagine what it would be like to hear that word after being attacked like that.

On another note, gym teachers and coaches don't have to be degrading to be effective. All of the gym teachers and coaches I've had in my entire life have been supportive and really effective at their job.  

[SharpenedMoonlight]

Atrum_Anima

Jonathon Fett

Some people need to grow a pair, and some thicker skin.

It's a Gym class. If he wasn't saying directly to you, then he was saying it to the class as a whole, and the intensity of the word is degraded exponentially. Gym teachers are supposed to be hard-asses. They're supposed to be mean. Quite oft, they coach a sport, so all they know is physical and mental attacks, and barraging of their pupils. Taking it personally like you is taking it to the next level. If you got that kicked, I'm certain that you would become "that kid" and would be insulted, heckled, picked on, and made fun of even more. So, unless you want to be the center of attention in the entire school, and be ridiculed, you should really not take it so offensively.

For some, it's not just a matter of "growing a pair". The 'F word' can be a trigger word for victims of hate crimes, especially when a gym teacher yells it out recklessly to the whole class. I have a friend who has the 'F word' carved into her thigh; I can't even imagine what it would be like to hear that word after being attacked like that.

On another note, gym teachers and coaches don't have to be degrading to be effective. All of the gym teachers and coaches I've had in my entire life have been supportive and really effective at their job.

When I had coaches or teacehrs that chose to be harsh and evil people, they were honestly the ones that were the worst. It doesn't ever usually help. It just makes the people under the authority figure angry and standoffish, and less likely to do as you say. At least, in my experience.  

[Almost Poetic]

I'm not going to bother quoting Jon, because I doubt he cares about this topic anymore. But I feel like my opinions on this matter were not adequately addressed by the others in the thread. I apologize in advance if I upset anyone, and I would love to hear everyone else's ideas on this.

While I agree that he shouldn't be taking it personally, how he viewed it is how he viewed it, and if he was offended then he has the right to ask it to stop, especially if it's from a teacher. But I disagree; he's not trying to take it too far. He feels like he is being singled out, whether intentional or not, but he is not taking extreme measures or expecting exaggerated punishments to the teacher. He is simply trying to get him to not say that again because he does not want to feel hurt or singled out again. To illustrate my point, let's re-enact this situation under different circumstances.

There's a guy who is of African-American descent, but it isn't visible. To his knowledge, he is the only of his kind in his class. His teacher calls into the locker room one day, "hurry up and get dressed, you niggers!" He is targeting a specific group and is at fault, even if he believes they are not represented in his class. By using it as an insult, he is suggesting it is something to mock and devalues that specific group.

There's a guy with mental disabilities in his class, but nobody can really tell. To the best of his knowledge, he is the only one in his class. One day, his teacher calls into the locker room, "hurry up and get dressed, you retards!" He is targeting a specific group and is at fault, even if he believes they are not represented in his class. By using it as an insult, he is suggesting it is something to mock and devalues that specific group.

What I'm saying is that just because there are less people standing up for homosexuals than there are for people of African descent or mental disabilities doesn't mean it's okay to insult them. And this will get back to him; by encouraging the belief that being gay is below being straight, he is never allowed to be openly gay in his school. If he does, he faces ridicule and hate that, though not initiated by that teacher, was still reinforced by that teacher.

Furthermore, if the teacher feels the need to call him out on being offended by what he said (thereby letting other kids target him and making him known as "that guy"), then he was intentionally trying to insult and degrade that specific group. This would justify OP's "overreaction" of taking it personally. And, if that is the case, then he would most likely loose his job for promoting hate on a specific group. In my opinion, which group is being targeted is pretty much immaterial.  

[RosesandBlood]

Ask him personally to stop. If you speak to him and he is a nice man then he should understand that it hurts you when he says that. If he continues speak to your principal and explain your situation. The next step if no one will listen is the administration.

But no matter what your teacher says, you are not a bag of sticks. 3nodding
Lol. The actual ENGLISH term 'f*****t' is a bag of sticks. I ask a woman who is in my family since she's a Brit bumming fags off my mom. Lol, cigarrettes. I learned a lot that day.