Super Straight: A Sexuality Inclusive Movement or a Supremacist Scam?

Source: Insider

What is the Super Straight Movement?

 

Just when we thought that the world could not get any more hateful, we welcomed to this world the ‘Super Straight’ movement. Don’t get misguided with the ‘Super’ prefix attached to the movement, it has nothing to do with any heroic deeds of a superman or a superwoman, on the contrary, it is anything but heroic. 

 

On a closer look, a hateful and resenting system disguised as the movement comes to plain sight. The irony here is that a movement, for a so-called and recently organised, sexual orientation, is actually in some way or the other repressing another community, with impunity and with little or no shame and hindrance. 

 

Urban Dictionary defines ‘Super Straight’ as a preference “of the opposite sex with the exclusion of transgender people.” This preference based on only an exclusionary mindset has made many activists called it a transphobic movement working behind the facade of a sexually inclusive rights movement. 

 

 

How Did it Start?

 

It all started on the 21st of February, when a TikToker, Kyle Royce, uploaded a video titled “Who else is super straight?”. In the video, he is talking about how straight men and women are called out as transphobic for not dating trans people. In his video, he can be seen saying that he will not date a trans woman as she is not a “real woman” 

 

In his video, he announced that he has created this new sexuality as he was sick of being labelled as transphobic for not dating trans women. The video was deleted from the platform, later on again uploaded on YouTube, but the video by now has garnered enough viewership as the movement, and with it, the hatred spreads out far. 

 

Many accounts came up supporting the movement and calling out for more followers. Overnight the video created a massive uprising of sorts to fuel the movement ahead. The movement, just like the Pride Movement of the LGBTQ community, has appropriated symbolism, such as flags, insignia and even merchandise to assemble even more support. 

 

It has, like many other things, divided and polarised the digital community with ferocious campaigns being led by both sides. 

 

 

What Is Happening Right Now?

 

‘Super Straight’ communities have popped around the globe, connecting through various platforms such as WhatsApp, telegram and Reddit. Even a casual look through one of these communities’ pages can make the dark stench of transphobic content obvious and plain.

 

As with any other bad idea whose time has come, this one has also spread like wildfire. The movement has inspired many other movements based on similar lines such as ‘Super Lesbians’, ‘Super Gays’ and ‘Super Bisexuals’. 

 

 

Why Is the Super Straight Movement a Step in the Wrong Direction?

 

At the heart of the movement, it is working on an exclusionary mechanism of not considering trans men and trans women as equal constituent of our society. The movement exclusively disrespects trans people’s choice and right of identifying themselves as they want to and deny them the equal opportunity they deserve. 

 

A Sexually inclusive movement thrives based on equal rights and opportunities, of creating a more just world for everyone, it fundamentally works for creating a better world rather than dividing our already fragile societal system along even more lines, as the super straight movement does. 

 

The movement fails to find a moral standing while it promotes the cause of a group that historically and culturally has been the most, or rather the only, privileged group of our society. It fails to be a movement based on shared aspirations of an inclusive world rather it stands as the basis of the formation of a clique based on division and hatred. 

 

The movement is an absolute disregard to the actual struggle the LGBTQ community faces as they come to terms with the societal bias which comes as a consequence of their sexual orientation. 

 

When the ‘Super Straight’ movement, jokingly or otherwise, endorses the statement of ‘coming out of the closet as super straight’, it discredited the agony and the instability around a queer person who fights hard to come out of the closet. 

 

What Next?

 

It is heart-wrenching to see that even as we enter the third decade of the 21st century we have failed to alleviate the problems faced by trans-people, moreover, we are witnessing an insensitive crusade to question the identity they have chosen for themselves. 

 

The duty is on us to not let us get derailed with these gimmicks so that we don't fail ourselves for standing up for equal rights for the actual downtrodden ones as we have repeatedly done in the past. 

 

Looking at the larger picture, this is one of the many tactics we as a society have failed to call out for what it is, an immoral movement working behind the veil of equality to dehumanise a community that is already the victim of a generation of discrimination and oppression. 

 

Written by - Piyush Pandey

Edited by - Christeena George