Kyle Royce on orange and black background.

@kyleroyce/TikTok Remix by DAS DD

Transphobic trolls try to pass off ‘super straight’ as a new sexual identity

The SS flags are a dead giveaway.

 

Siobhan Ball

IRL

Posted on Mar 9, 2021   Updated on Mar 9, 2021, 10:21 am CST

Trolls, bigots, and trans-exclusionary radical feminists are reframing their harassment of transgender people as the supposed new sexual identity “super straight.”

Like many wretched things on the internet, image forum 4chan is largely responsible. But TikToker Kyle Royce first coined the term in a now-deleted video.

In the clip, he complains about being called transphobic for only wanting to date “real women,” a transphobic way of excluding transgender women, and says his solution is to create a new orientation.

He facetiously says being “super straight” means that he only dates “women that are born women.” “You can’t say I’m transphobic now because that’s just my sexuality,” he says.

https://twitter.com/OGSuperstraight/status/1367092072428224513

As Royce’s TikTok video spread, 4Chan users and other trolls used the term “super straight” to weaponize the language and symbols used for the LGBTQ community, like “pride” and the rainbow flag.

'#superstraight #superstraightpride' the black and orange flag with a man and a woman kissing across the centre. The left side has orange on black text saying 'Can't deny the way nature intended it' and the right has black on orange saying 'Can't deny love always beats hateful bigotry'
@OGsuperstraight/Twitter
'#superstraight this is so real and sad but don't forget you're valid you're Beautiful Orange heartBlack heart' Yes Chad comic meme format. Chad, labelled straight person, says 'I don't want to date a trans person' Wojack, labelled LGBTQ says 'nooo!!! you have to! transphobe!!!' Chad walks away and comes back with label super straight person and Wojack turns red and makes an enraged face saying 'NOOOOO!!!!! You can't just make your own sexuality!!!!!'
@brrrro_/Twitter
'Superstraight people have ALWAYS been part of the LGBT community, and were recognised on the LGBT flag. We just never made a fuss about it. Now we raised our voices, and as a result we have become the target of hate. We are not your enemy. Love who you love! #SuperStraight' picture of a pride flag with super straight written across the orange line in black text
@MrSonicAdvance/Twitter

On 4chan, users seemed excited to “red pill,” or enlighten, Gen Z users and sow division among transgender people, their queer allies, and the vocal minority that opposes trans rights.

But even on 4chan, the term “super straight” caused division. Some transphobic users insisted that it was just another way of saying “normal” and that using a new term was all a plot—either by Jewish people trying to normalize transgender people or even by the LGBTQ community itself. One user wrote of a conspiracy “to make you slowly accept degeneracy … step by step.”

However, the majority of people engaging on the imageboard thought it was a brilliant trolling opportunity and a way to radicalize young men with right-wing thinking. The forums had a mixture of “we must stay ‘nice’ so that they look like the insane and irrational ones” and the usual racist, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic chatter.

'Remember that the #SuperStraight hashtag is an anti-trans OP. It was birthed several days ago from 4chan and Kiwi Farms, both noxious holes of anti-trans and disinfo content. If you see it, don’t get confused. It’s the same anti-trans bullshit the far-right consistently pushes.' screenshot of a 4Chan post saying 'Making this thread before the other hits the bump limit GOAL > drive a wedge between trannies and other fag groups >redpill Zoomers >Use the left's tactics against themselves, call them bigots for not accepting super straights >Shitpost on social media >Hit mainstream status WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING >Zoomer on TikTok makes a new sexuality known as super straight meaning one is only attracted to the biological sex, meaning no trannies >countering the tranny logic that troons are 'real women' WHAT DO I DO >spam this shit all over, make memes, retweet SS agents on Twitter, post on every site imaginable

The fact that “super straight” can be shortened to SS, the acronym for the Nazi military branch Schutzstaffel, was especially enticing for some 4chan dwellers. It also caused infighting between those who ran with it and those who said the coincidence made their plan too obvious to the target audience.

Circular SS logo in the super straight colours with 'Hair Super Straight Victory' written beside it.
@DavidPaisley/Twitter

Meanwhile, numerous “super straight” Twitter accounts cropped up to spread fake messages about oppression and attempt to portray “super straight” people as part of the LGBTQ community.

'What is super straight? This is a new sexuality that means that you are only attracted to cisgender women or men. This was made due to an influx of people saying that you aren’t straight if you aren’t attracted to trans women/men. We are part of the LGBTQ+ now. #superstraight' Black and orange flag
@DavidPaisley/Twitter
Black heartOrange heartBlack heartOrange heartBlack heartOrange heartBlack heartOrange heart The #SuperStraight community is being targeted for for going against heteronormativity. It's 2021 everyone! We don't need to fit in your narrow idea of sexuality. We demand inclusion and acceptance. We are here and we are here to stay! Black heartOrange heartBlack heartOrange heartBlack heartOrange heartBlack heartOrange heart
@SuperStr8IMND/Twitter
As a #superstraight man, I can say that the abuse I have received today is no different to what I have recieved my entire life. Just because I do not find a transwoman's penis attractive I am labeled a 'bigot' and a 'transphobe'. I can't help the way I was born. Black heartOrange heartSpread love.
@SuperstraightN

On Monday, the hashtag #superstraight went viral. While the push to popularize it began with 4chan, plenty of garden variety bigots leaped on board. In some cases, it’s hard to tell who’s trolling and who believes it’s a real identity. “I’m #superlesbian and we’ve been getting harassed for years because of our orientation,” one user wrote. “I stand with #superstraight.”

'Yay! I'm out and #superstraight and delighted! Red heartOrange heartYellow heartGreen heartBlue heartRainbow #SuperstraightVisibility #SuperstraightSexual #LGBTQS #SuperstraightPride' picture of smiling people waving pride flags
@antlawson1974/Twitter
I’m #superlesbian and we’ve been getting harassed for years because of our orientation. It’s hateful, it needs to stop. I stand with the #superstraight movement
@Twoplustwoisfo2/Twitter

TERFs, the LGB Alliance, and other established transphobes used the term to validate their bigotry in yet another way. Some used “super straight” to attempt to co-opt hate crime legislation designed to protect LGBTQ people.

'If you are in the UK it is against the law to discriminate against someone's sexual orientation. The police might even be interested in hate tweets. #SuperStraight (straight) IS a sexual orientation & protected under the Equality Act 2010 as is: #SuperLesbian #SuperGay #SuperBi'
@StellaDoves/Twitter
'We are reasserting the sex-based rights of LGB people. We have campaigned for the rights of people with same-sex sexual orientation before and now we need to do so again. We are not going away! #SuperLesbian #SuperGay #SuperBi' embedded screenshot saying 'Gender ideology is sexist and homophobic. Sexes exist and matter. We can gender bend our sexes without making other people deny that we are male or female. Your trans hood doesn't change lesbian orientation which excludes males'
@ALLIANCELGB/Twitter

Super Straight U.K. started a Change.org petition asking the government to recognize “super straight” as a minority sexual identity that by Monday had more than 2,000 signatures.

But TikTok and Twitter were full of people, especially Gen Z users, pushing back against the bigotry inherent in the concept of “super straight.” “Real revolutionaries date trans women,” one user said.

@procrasclass

Reply to @procrasclass Don’t be another stormtrooper @stryx_official #stryx #transgender #trans

♬ Violin – Grooving Gecko

Must-reads on the Daily Dot

An autistic TikToker reported an ableist sound that trivializes sexual assault 4 times. It’s still wildly popular
Police say ‘computer-generated voice’ behind swatting attempt of Marjorie Taylor Greene
‘AI cannot be an excuse’: What happens when Meta’s chatbot brands a college professor a terrorist?
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

Share this article
*First Published: Mar 9, 2021, 6:00 am CST