#SuperStraight - The new guise for transphobia

Warning: the screenshots linked to this article contain harmful transphobic, homophobic, misoyginistic slurs and language.

Transphobia has donned a new costume and it is the ‘sexuality’ of “super straight”. And a single TikTok by user @kyleroyce started this course of events.

‘Super straight’ = to be a heterosexual person attracted only to people of the opposite sex, who are ‘born’ the opposite sex (ie. who have not transitioned). 

Photo by Denin Lawley on Unsplash

Though the origins of the phrase are being contested even among the ‘super straight’ community, it became popular through @kyleroyce’s TikTok, first posted on February 21st. The post has since  been deleted, but copies have been uploaded to Youtube. It then reached other social media platforms, such as 4chan, Reddit, and Twitter, and appeared on Urban Dictionary on February 28. A flag was created, a simple black and orange symbol. 

The issue is not who people find themselves attracted to, but the insistence that ‘super straight’ is a real, serious sexuality. It’s not. It’s also not just a joke. At best, it is a harmful, misguided movement. At worst, it’s something that could be used to create violence. ‘Super straight’ grows more damaging and divisive each day that it trends and is adopted by people.

Discussions on 4chan have been the most disturbing, as screenshots of threads reveal campaigns to use the term to further Nazism and transphobia, and “redpilling” people (‘red pill’ is a reddit-created term, taken from The Matrix films: believing and sharing the belief that men are the ones oppressed in society). Such campaigns have made use of the SS acronym of ‘super straight’ [referring to the Schutzstaffel], and even toyed with the idea of integrating SS symbols into the black-orange flag.  Ultimately, they wanted to drive a wedge between LGBTQIA+ communities and have people consider their approach.

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

Accounts like @supa_str8 on Twitter have denounced the term’s connection to Nazism. and others who identify as ‘super straight’ have also echoed this. They have also pronounced that the term is not transphobic. Most have likened #SuperStraight to LGBTQIA+ movements, and insist that they are claiming their own space, just as LGBTQIA+ people have claimed theirs.

“Since straight people, and straight men as myself, are called transphobic because I wouldn’t date a trans woman. Like, ‘would you date a trans woman?’ and I’m like no - ‘why? that’s a female?’ - uh, no, like that’s not a real woman to me, I want a real woman…” 

(@kyleroyce’s original TikTok)

Trans women are real women. To say otherwise is transphobic, and/or incredibly misinformed. 

Transphobia exists and continues across the world. In the US (where ‘super straight’ is gaining the most popularity’), 2021 has already shown rising numbers of transgender or non-conforming people murdered, and this number is likely higher as most incidents go ‘unreported - or misreported’. In 2020, a study published by ANROWS found that that transgender woman of colour were 20 percent more likely to suffer sexual harassment and violence compared to other women. Earlier this week, Simona Castricum was forced out of a woman's bathroom at Yah Yah's in Fitzroy, with a guard continually telling her she was a man, despite Simona's protests. According to Ms Castricum, it wasn’t the first time, and it wasn’t the first place.

On March 10, @kyleroyce posted an explanation video on Youtube (after TikTok reportedly kept taking his explanations down).

"At the end of the day, I can't control who I'm attracted to or how my personal boundaries feel. If people want to express these things, let them. It doesn't mean they're being hateful. Don't use 'super straight' to spread hate. The 'super straight' motto is: you do you, love and respect everybody else."

(@kyleroyce’s explanation video)

Nevertheless, the ‘super straight’ term is still a problem. It’s a label that specifically excludes the transgender community. 

Personal preference is different from sexuality. There are differences between learning about each other’s preferences and attractions, and creating a whole sexuality that excludes trans people. Having more discussions based on understanding each other would do more good than creating a whole new sexuality.

As of 17 March (AEST):

• TikTokers posting videos that called out ‘super straight’ transphobic videos, and explain how they are transphobic, are being taken down. Blocked or deleted, within hours, sometimes half an hour, of being posted, for violating community guidelines (specifically the ‘hate speech’ policy).

• The r/superstraight thread on reddit has been banned

• The original 4chan threads have been deleted

• On TikTok, the tags ‘#super straight’ and ‘#superstraight’ come up empty
  

Want to learn more about transphobia?

• Read Minus18’s article on definitions within the LGBTQIA+ community here. They have definitions for transphobia, and homophobia

• Here is another Minus18 article on how to challenge crappy language (just like ‘super straight’) when you hear it.

• IDAHOBIT (The International Day Aginst Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia) is coming up on May 17. Learn more about IDAHOBIT here.

WORDS: JEANNE
PHOTOGRAPHY: UNSPLASH, TWITTER