Orangeville’s Sean Waring has been verbally harassed, mocked, threatened and followed home — all because he chooses to wear eye make-up.
At times, the 17-year-old says he’s been so concerned about being attacked that he’s taken different routes home so his followers won’t know where he lives.
“I’m not going to stop because of this; it’s just something that’s not going to happen,” Waring says of wearing eye make-up, which he acknowledges is “kind of unusual.”
“I would say there’s only two guys in town that actually wear make-up.”
The high school senior has been expressing himself through eye make-up for about nine months now. He says he was inspired to don a design on his face by the Jrock music movement in Japan, which he describes as a combination of emo and metal.
“It’s all about emotions and what’s going on ... but they express it through a visual way,” he says.
“Commonly, when I go to school and stuff, everyone listens to the same kind of thing — Metallica and all that. I’m just not into that whole hatred kind of thing. When you listen to Jrock ... it’s more exploiting the good side of someone.”
Dirty looks, snide comments and threats are commonplace for Waring, who notes they come from a range of age groups. He says he’s even been told by a local business to either wash his face or get out. Of course, he left.
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