My friends don't think the word "" is offencive?

Well, some people don't find the use of as an offense. However, I know how you're feeling. A couple of my friends called me a repeatedly until I started crying one day. It got the message through that it hurt me. However, if you can't get your friends to stop, then try out the term for yourself. The more you refer to yourself as a , the less it starts to hurt. I know this sounds like it would be counterproductive, but trust me, it's helpful. I have three friends who went through the same ordeal. Now we use the term so loosely it's almost as if it never hurt any of us at one time.