I want to be honest and get an outside perspective because I’m not sure if I’m overreacting.
I have a friend group, and over time they’ve started making repeated negative comments about my appearance. It’s things like “look at her big nose” or “your forehead is really big today.” These comments are almost always directed at me specifically, either in group settings or sometimes one-on-one.
What makes it confusing is that this didn’t really start until after I opened up to them about being insecure about those specific features. Since then, it feels like those insecurities have become something they joke about regularly.
Another example is a friend saying that when her dog didn’t like me at first, she said, “This must be the first boy who doesn’t like you huh.” I can’t tell if these things are meant as jokes or if they’re trying to get a reaction out of me.
Sometimes I push back and say something similar, but then the group goes quiet like I did something wrong, which makes it even more confusing.
I feel like I’m being singled out or made into a scapegoat in the group, but I also second-guess myself because these people are still generally nice to me most of the time. It’s just these comments that keep happening in between.
One of these friends I’ve known since 7th grade and she’s always made the same forehead-related jokes. Another friend I trusted more recently also started making comments about my nose after I told her that was something I was insecure about.
But the most infuriating part is I have no idea why they're only doing this to me, and about my appearance.
How should I deal with this situation?