Cristiano is an individual and expresses individuality in everything he does.

CHAT SESSION 13 with Cristiano

🎧 PODCAST LINK

Topic- Individuality

1pm Monday 24th July 2023 https://rppfm.com.au

On the 19th of October of 2008 Cristiano Rocco Arduca was born, witnessed by his mother, father, and his mother’s parents. The joy of a newborn was overwhelming for this family as they had difficulty getting pregnant. Phone calls were being made while tears were shed as Cristiano lay quietly in his cradle.

By the time he was six months old, he was on his first flight to Melbourne to meet all his extended family. Life in Sydney was fun but being away from extended family wasn’t ideal, so when Cristiano was eight months old his parents decided to move back to a suburban house in East Keilor, Melbourne.

Cristiano was two years old when he discovered that ladies’ heels were more appealing than regular shoes and because he insisted on wearing heels outside the house, countless fights were had until the age of five.

The family made a move and this time settled to a house in Carlton. His parents enrolled Cristiano in a kindergarten at Princess Hill and although there were many different things to keep him entertained, Cristiano was always playing with dolls or playing house. When playing house, Cristiano always decided to be the wife. No one batted an eyelid at this and together with the other children, play time always seemed to be fun. At home, Cristiano was gifted with the most toys a kid could ever want, and the toys ranged from footballs and cars to dolls and makeup. He always chose to play with the Barbies, princess heels, hairdressing sets and makeup. His favourite thing to do above all this was dress up in his mum’s clothes and high heels.

When Cristiano was older, he was enrolled into Carey Grammar. A new school, unfamiliar territory. This new beginning was a little difficult and often came with many challenges. His parents were going through a rough divorce at that time, which affected Cristiano emotionally. Compared to the kindergarten students, Cristiano felt disconnected and confused. Although, as time went on, he found a good group of friends and ironically, they were all boys. Given that his past friends were mainly girls, it was nice for Cristiano to now have a diverse group of friends.

In year one Cristiano started to express himself by wearing nail polish, and jewellery and started becoming friends with more girls. At the time, his teacher was kind and accepting and didn’t have an issue with any of this which helped to boost Cristiano’s self-esteem.

In year two things started getting shaky at school. His teacher at the time was old-fashioned and would not tolerate anything that was “for a girl”. Wearing things like nail polish would be called out immediately but Cristiano couldn’t care less. He continued getting in trouble to the point where he had to have a meeting with his teacher. He expressed how he felt that girls in his class wouldn’t be told off and he would. With a stunned face, he knew that he had won this battle but not the war.

Year three was a tough time for Cristiano, while he made new friends, others were not as kind. This year Cristiano faced an issue that millions of people deal with daily, bullying. Cristiano was not only bullied for being feminine but for also being overweight. This was something that he wasn’t aware of himself. He didn’t even think twice about how he presented himself. These actions led to a lot of issues for Cristiano to this day. This was when Cristiano started to understand himself. Due to harsh bullying, he began to understand a large part of himself. That he was gay. Before this he had no idea what ‘gay’ even meant but the day that his bully had said it to him, he ran home and went on his iPad and searched it up. While he was only seven years old at the time, you would think that he wouldn’t have related or even fathomed the concept of ‘gay’ but he turned around and said to himself “That sounds about right”. Later that week he told his mother, who was also a teacher, she was his cheerleader. He wasn’t comfortable telling his dad.

Cristiano's mum was in a relationship once with a guy and remembers a time when he was wearing his favourite navy-blue nail polish. But his mums partner at the time wouldn’t allow it. He yelled “he is not allowed any of that stuff in my house.” Cristiano bawling his eyes out, rushed to the bathroom to get it off. That was just the tip of the iceberg for the months that followed. Cristiano begged his mum to break up with her boyfriend and thankfully the relationship ended.

A year after the relationship ended, Daniela finally battled cancer, all was going well. A year after that, Cristiano decided that he would live with his mum full time instead of his dad. He not only did this because he would like to spend more time with his mum as she started a job near home, but also because his relationship with his dad wasn’t the best. Cristiano tried his best in terms of school but seemed to fall behind. With his dad’s high expectations, the two did not work well together. More recently, they started to get along better, and Cristiano’s grades have started to improve.

Although Cristiano’s journey wasn’t all smooth sailing it made him who he is. He is an individual and expresses individuality in everything he does. Sometimes he still wonders what it would be like if he was the typical kid with a typical family.

National Centre Against Bullying

https://www.ncab.org.au/get-help/

https://qlife.org.au

QLife provides anonymous and free LGBTQIA+ peer support and referral for people in Australia wanting to talk about sexuality, identity, gender, bodies, feelings, or relationships.

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'The Daily Mirror' acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.