The reaction to superstraight

[FleurPower123]

Hey all,

I usually lurk and read threads but I fancied having a chat about this topic as I've been reading with interest - quite new to the whole trans debate and still a bit overwhelmed by it all. Was blissfully unaware a month ago and I've now found out what a rabbithole the whole thing is!

I've no doubt many people are using the superstraight thing as a means to poke fun at the trans lobby, but I also believe at least part of it may have sprung up as a reaction to the whole suffocating 'no debate' standpoint and the absolutely unflinching self indulgence shown by some TRAs with seemingly no empathy to balance it out - e.g. "I'm scared to share changing rooms with men but how very dare you have a problem sharing with me (a man)".

I watched a YouTube video where people were criticising the superstraight trend, and one young guy said (paraphrased) "if you were to date a trans person and really like them, but then find out they were trans and dump them you'd be transphobic."

Surely what you'd actually be is a victim of 'rape by deception'? People have actually been sent to prison for pretending to be the opposite sex and tricking unknowing people into sleeping with them - like Gayle Newland and Gemma Watts who posed as men to sleep with other women and received prison sentences.

I was a bit confused by this seeming implication that you'd be in the wrong if somebody concealed their sex from you and you then became angry upon finding out and dumped them.

Hoefully, this isn't the part where I find out I'm a horrible bigot... 😬

I've reached the Marge Simpson life-stage of being oblivious to the layered ironies of what japes youngsters get up to on the internet, so I won't even attempt to detangle how it started and whether it was serious. But it does seem like it's given a lot of young people an outlet to say that sex and sexual orientation are real things and they're tired of being lectured about it by blue-haired virgins (my paraphrase). At the end of the day, sex is a primal thing, not a political position.

Ahhhhhh, it was a matter of time unfortunately
@GiantKitten that subreddit appeared quickly after the superstraight one and began to boycott, infiltrating the sub, reporting users. If enough users and comments are reported a sub is banned. There are 1000s of troll accounts that purposefully attempt to shutdown subs. Mods on the boards are corrupted
BUT there’s a heck of a lot more awareness now, that’s got to be a positive

I did see a video ages ago of a bearded guy in a dress talking about expanding the bandwidth of womanhood or something and was a bit 🤔.

Alex Drummond

The only thing that bugs me about the “super” sexuality thing trending is - it is ceding language to gender ideology (and apologies for use of some of this language here in context) - saying in effect, “ok, so yes lesbians are attracted to women including transwomen, but super lesbians are only attracted to ciswomen”. This is not language that sits well with me personally, both as a feminist and a same-sex attracted woman (albeit bisexual so shielded from a lot of the shit lesbians have to deal with). It is also inaccurate IMO - I’m not sure how to phrase this and not invite deletion, but two people of the same sex in a relationship is a homosexual relationship irrespective of the gender identities of the individuals (and same for opposite sex/heterosexual).

What “super” is trying to say, I think, is, my sexuality responds to sex not gender identity. But because of the social necessity to accept “transwomen are women/transmen are men”, we get into this muddle. Perhaps the “super” trend is the start of reclaiming language around sexuality and divorce it from gender ideology. Perhaps.

@Rockinmomma

Ahhhhhh, it was a matter of time unfortunately *@GiantKitten* that subreddit appeared quickly after the superstraight one and began to boycott, infiltrating the sub, reporting users. If enough users and comments are reported a sub is banned. There are 1000s of troll accounts that purposefully attempt to shutdown subs. Mods on the boards are corrupted BUT there’s a heck of a lot more awareness now, that’s got to be a positive

Everyone knew it was going to get banned.

But it showed what's been hinted at for a while - that there is a reaction starting. Some people who found there way on to there were shocked at what was happening to lesbians in particular.

Banned on Reddit too.
Lots of triumphant superstraightphobia stuff has popped up instead hmm

Really? peoples sexuality have been banned! that is so phobic. I think it will just feed a backlash.

At the end of the day, sex is a primal thing, not a political position.

Yes. All the bans and cancelling in the world will not change this.

Just had a google on reddit and it does seem superstraight has been banned. But interestingly superstraightphobic is still allowed?

Why is this hateful discrimination allowed to happen? This is 2021

Why is this hateful discrimination allowed to happen? This is 2021

Wasn't it the case that hate/discrimination is only bad against minorities in Reddit's recent terms and conditions change? If superstraights are (as is likely) a majority, then superstraightphobia is explicitly permitted.

They'd be on dicier ground vs superlesbians.

superlesbians have been banned on reddit now as well, what kind of country are we becoming in 2021 where we cant even talk about our sexuality?

@Cwenthryth I completely agree.

Superstraight was a chan op and it's already fizzling out.

Think "psy op" but conducted by sweaty misogynists considered too degenerate for even reddit.

Here's the timeline of what actually happened.

21 February - tiktok video by 16 year old boy coining #superstraight.
late February - it starts to go viral with people piling in on twitter.
1 March - as a viral event the #superstraight sub reddit was created.
6 March - this is the date of the 4Chan screenshots that social media is using to "prove" 4Chan was behind #superstraight.
6 March - this was also the date mumsnet posters became aware of the viral event.

You need to be less gullible in your belief of conspiracy theories Hibari.

I think 6 March was when everyone noticed it. First reference on KF was also on that day. (Previous thing everyone had been watching there was the whole front 2 pages of r/TwoXChromosomes being MTF selfies - I can't help feel that event must have helped propel r/SuperStraight).

The genie is coming out of the bottle though.
I think the whole super- thing has both hit a nerve, amused people, but also serves a useful purpose.
If it gets banned, something else will be coined. Language is dynamic.
I don't really get why people feel owed by others in respect of dating. Dating is massively exclusionary and for the vast majority of people, the sex of your partner is not negotiable. I've declined to date perfectly nice blokes because of very small things that turned me off.
Saying that I would much rather be declined by a potential date for a reason beyond my control (sorry, I don't date biological women) than something like them finding me boring or annoying!

It’s worth knowing that Aimee Challenor and at least one of their 2 partners (husbands?) are mods on a shit ton of sub reddits.

I’m saying no more about Aimee as who knows what gets you banned nowadays, but Aimee and Aimee’s partners are worth a google.

I fail to see why i have to be respectful of everyone’s identity and sexual preference

Except if its a 16 year old lad who is only sexually attracted to females

Nope...not playing that game

People should be able to say who they will and wont have sex with without being called transphobic

Thats the end of it as far as I’m concerned

@Hibari

Superstraight was a chan op and it's already fizzling out.

No it wasn't

OP there is a lot of discussion about Super Straight (including where it actually started, i.e. TikTok) here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4184352-Superstraight

@PotholeParadies

I did see a video ages ago of a bearded guy in a dress talking about expanding the bandwidth of womanhood or something and was a bit 🤔.

Alex Drummond

My favourite Magdalen Berns video:

I don't care whether TRA trolls manage to shutdown Reddit superstraight subs. Doesn't change the fact that myself and the vast majority of people are only ever going to have sex with biological men or biological women (gay or straight in old money).

Bisexual people accept that and date accordingly, trans people have to too. No amount of foot stamping, shrieking or cancelling by TRAs changes the fact that most people don't want to have sex with them. I think it's important that they know that, especially young people being told that transitioning is the answer to all their problems - they should know it will limit their dating pool, as well as their fertility - look at Jazz Jennings.

@minchinfin

I don't care whether TRA trolls manage to shutdown Reddit superstraight subs. Doesn't change the fact that myself and the vast majority of people are only ever going to have sex with biological men or biological women (gay or straight in old money).

Bisexual people accept that and date accordingly, trans people have to too. No amount of foot stamping, shrieking or cancelling by TRAs changes the fact that most people don't want to have sex with them. I think it's important that they know that, especially young people being told that transitioning is the answer to all their problems - they should know it will limit their dating pool, as well as their fertility - look at Jazz Jennings.

That's the great irony here. We're told that the "supers" are a small bigoted minority. If that's the case why do you even have workshops on the "cotton ceiling"? Why not just leave "supers" alone?

Does anyone know how many transbians are actually dating each other?

The SuperStraight subreddit raised over $4.5k for Vancouver Rape Relief within about a day or so, and they were especially welcoming and supportive of SuperLesbian, SuperGay, and SuperBi people.

Raising thousands of dollars for Canadian rape shelters seems a tad outside the remit of 4Chan, so I'm not the slightest bit convinced by the desperate claim it was a "chan op".

But of course the subreddit which identifies as being "against hate" despised our existence, so, launched a brigading and reporting campaign to have the SuperStraight sub banned. Certain people resorted to previously successful, scummy tactics;
Posting illegal images [involving gore and children], in order to immediately report to Reddit, to 'prove' SuperStraight sub users were breaching Reddit ToS and the sub-mods were just letting it go.

They did this in sufficient numbers to overwhelm the SuperStraight mods, who then had to private the sub. Naturally it wasn't enough, and today, AHS & TRAs are gloating that just as they'd had SuperGay and SuperLesbian subs banned &removed, so now is the SuperStraight sub.

For about a day and a half, I was happy to be part of that sub, initially only because SuperLesbian was destroyed by...the usuals. But I have to say, I loved it. It kind of, in a way, felt like one of the Pride Marches (mid 90s/early'00s); In terms of going thru the year dealing with various levels of anti-lesbian/anti-gay crap, and then for a night surrounded by just everyday people reminding us that they care, they care, they don't want to ostracise, sack, evict, silence, ban, punch, stab, shoot, rape or kill us for being same-sex oriented, and they vigorously oppose people who do, and those who make public spaces hostile to us, then have us thrown out of our own spaces, and/or destroy the spaces we create, threaten, abuse, dox, physically assault, and worse [anti-lesbian rivers come to mind...]

Anyway, I didn't get a chance to post there but- Thank you to everyone who was there in good faith, and was so wonderfully supportive.

#SuperLesbian

Oops, looks like I'm late with that first post. Should have refreshed the thread.

"Are we the baddies?" said no TRA ever.

@risefromyourgrave

It’s worth knowing that Aimee Challenor and at least one of their 2 partners (husbands?) are mods on a shit ton of sub reddits.

I’m saying no more about Aimee as who knows what gets you banned nowadays, but Aimee and Aimee’s partners are worth a google.

Now THAT is something the parliamentary committee on online discourse should be aware of.

Didn't Aimee also invent terf blocker to make easier to be in an echo chamber?

ninetynineAu

For about a day and a half, I was happy to be part of that sub, initially only because SuperLesbian was destroyed by...the usuals. But I have to say, I loved it. It kind of, in a way, felt like one of the Pride Marches (mid 90s/early'00s)

It's been silenced for now, but all that camaraderie and acceptance is still there, under the surface, spreading and strengthening and getting bigger. The brief flash of this supermovement has enlightened huge numbers of people, who are all now watching it being stifled and suppressed. The time will come