I had this rather awkward OKCupid conversation about two years ago. Unbeknownst to me, I hooked up with an undergrad at Stanford and wrote about it and became famous! This was actually the moment I realized that I had created somewhat of a phenomenon. Boy Toy suddenly became bigger than me, with an infamous life of his own, embedded in fiction beyond the grasp of my own reality.
It’s amazing how words can influence us. Every story changes depending on who reads it, and we all take a little something different from a narrative to which we can associate. None of the original Confessions ever mentioned Stanford (or any California college, for that matter), but guys still identified with it, flexing to believe it could be about them or about someone they might know. Our own experiences shape the way we view the world — the way we read a blog.
I am proud to have written something that resonated with so many guys all over the world, most of whom I’ve never even met. It goes to show that I’m not the only one to have (over)reacted over a broken heart or mourned a failed relationship or got caught up in my own fantasies of being the one. Even the most specific circumstances can become universal if the right emotion is involved.
Now that Boy Toy is out and about — hooking up with discerning undergrads all over the country without my knowledge, let alone my permission — how could I ever reign him back in? Or is it better to just let him float free? Unattached and uncommitted. Not bound to answer to anyone – not even the man who created him.
BOY TOYS TALK BACK: How did you find out about the original Confessions of a Boy Toy blog? Did I hook-up with someone at your school too?
