When I was in 7th grade, I experienced bullying from both genders. I had girls whom I thought were my friends making fun of me for the way I dressed (which continued on throughout HS), and I had boys making fun of me for the way that I looked. I was told that my teeth were yellow, which caused me to come home crying to my mother begging for teeth whitening materials. I was told I was a freak because I have webbed toes, again resulting in me coming home crying and begging my mom for toe separation surgery. As I said earlier, it continued on throughout high school, but not as badly as it was in middle school. By the time I was in high school, I just didn't care what people thought about me, because it was supposed to be the best years of my life. I wore what I wanted, did my hair/makeup however seemed fitting to me, hung out with whoever I felt comfortable with. Still, I had people ridiculing me for my appearance. I buried myself in books, indulged myself in old movies and music, let myself escape and become "cultured" as my mom called me. It helped me out a lot. It has made me who I am today. If I were made fun of for wearing a certain outfit, I would just tell myself that it was similar to something a character from a movie I just saw wore, and that was that. And so on and so forth. 

Now, I have a somewhat steady career doing local commercials, and modeling gigs. I don't let the people that hurt me throughout my youth bother me because I came out doing what I wanted to do. I'm a happy person, and I convinced myself that their ridicule was based on them disliking themselves. And that's the key; like yourself. I know it's said a MILLION times a day, by everybody. But it really, really, REALLY is true. Who cares about what other people think. Do you think David Bowie cared what other people thought of him wearing platform boots, glittery one-pieced suits, and lots of facial makeup? Or what about Madonna or Lady Gaga, if they cared what people think, we wouldn't have to extremely influential "who-gives-a-crap" role models for people like us! 

EMBRACE YOURSELF.