I live at the Crashpad with my two best friends, and we are all lesbians. The dynamic of this house rotates around our common interests, which is more than just the ladies, but also carrying heavy furniture, pretending to skateboard, letting our girlfriends move in after two weeks, baggy clothes– typical lesbian stuff.
Maya DiMaio has been my best friend since kindergarten and has been a resident of the Crashpad for the past two years.
“The Crashpad is like a lesbian frat house,” DiMaio said.
This house resembles a frat house, because we are messy and sometimes smelly. But the awesome thing about it being a lesbian frat house, is that it’s actually safe here for women.
Lexi Rangel is my best friend that I met in college and also resides in the Crashpad.
“We only really hang out with girls,” Rangel said. “So when all our girl friends come over they feel very safe enough to get drunk and dance, without creepy men hitting on them.”
Just the other weekend, I looked around the house after a few people had come over from the bar, and it was all girls, gays, and non-binary people. We even had to turn away a straight man at the door that followed us from the bar. Sorry sir. This is a house full of intoxicated women, we do not trust you.
“Generally, I like to surround myself with girls, and most of the people I know are gay,” Dimaio said. “So that is just where I feel the most comfortable, and having that home environment with only lesbians really just makes me feel loved and supported.”
This house is very special to us for the safety it provides, and we’ve only been hatecrimed once. Someone once yelled homophobic profanities at us when we were pretending to know how to skate in the front yard. And we have only had like two almost home invasions, but that is just the living with lesbians in Arcata lifestyle.
When you’re living with all women, you’ve all got to be the muscle. We have had to handle situations that scare us, mainly because we are still vulnerable women. But we would rather sleep next to bats than have any male energy in this household, so it’s definitely a trade off.
“They [men] smell bad,” Rangel said.
“I don’t like most of them [men],” DiMaio said. “But I don’t know many of them [men] honestly.”
Stay safe and stay happy, lesbians. And always protect all of your fellow ladies.
