196

I recently realized that the straightness category is very analogous to whiteness.

If a cis person were to date an agender enby, they might be heterosexual by virtue of being sexually attracted to someone of a different phenotypical gender/sex, but would probably not be considered straight. Despite the enby being hetero to the cis person, people might call them homos, even if the enby was AMAB and the cis person was a woman.

This is why people see attraction to trans people as not straight. If the chick has a dick or the dude doesn't, it just doesn't feel straight to cis people. Even if the trans person had The Surgery^TM^, the fact that they're not "normal" makes attraction to them not straight to these freaks.

Just like conceptions of whiteness, male/female, and pornography, straightness is really based on vibes rather than strict criteria. This allows the category to be used as a tool of exclusion and oppression, given legitimacy by its supposed ties to objective measures.

Straight =/= heterosexual. Liking femboys is gay, liking tomboys is gay, liking trans people is gay. An AMAB transfem & an AFAB transmasc in a trans for trans relationship aren't straight, even though they aren't homosexual from any coherent perspective. Straightness isn't coherent beyond separating normal from queer. All heterosexual people can find a trans person hot if we pass, and many will find us hotter if they know we're trans.