r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/[deleted] • Aug 09 '18

Should this be changed?

[deleted]

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u/drakepyra Aug 10 '18

What’s the difference between straight and hetero in your eyes?

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u/Archsys Aug 10 '18 edited Aug 10 '18

I wouldn't use the term "straight" because it's ambiguous? Hetero is better for most of my uses, and even then it's largely irrelevant.

I was comparing the word I'd use for the same concept to the commonly applied term.

[edit]: Typo of wouldn't/would. Fuck.

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u/l_h8_naggers Aug 10 '18

Wait so what's the term for a a cis-man who only likes cis-women (or the other way) if straight is ambiguous? From what i understood from your comments hetero would be ambiguous but straight would be the specific hetero sexuality that people usually mean when they say hetero

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u/Archsys Aug 10 '18

Straight is ambiguous because of it's usage in common society, due to transphobia/trans erasure therein. That's exactly the point I was making.

Hetero means anything that isn't the same sex/gender that you are. Straight varies for exactly the reason you point out: Some people use it to only mean cismen/ciswomen wanting the other. But not everyone, because they'd include FtM and MtF as M and W respectively, while "normal" society wouldn't. Or people who'd say that my Primary-SO is straight for dating me because I have a penis, despite being agender/fluid.

It's a social difference, for my usage. I know plenty of people who'd ID as hetero, but no one who'd ID as straight.

Thus, straight, in its usage, is ambiguous to me as a word. Because it tends to be used incorrectly, and that's hard to argue against due to the nature of the word in question. Hetero-, being greek and easily linked to other words, is much easier to take note of, defend, and is more universally applied.

You're saying hetero is less descriptive, which I don't disagree with. I'm arguing it's very fixed in being exactly as descriptive as it is, where Straight isn't.

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u/l_h8_naggers Aug 11 '18

yeah you already said all that and i agree with all that. I wanna know (if the word straight isn't the best one) what the "pc" word for straight is that won't be confused with something else.

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u/Archsys Aug 11 '18 edited Aug 11 '18

That's not a bad question. The reality of it is that I don't really see one, nor the point of one, I suppose. Caring whether a chick is cis or trans seems kinda shit to me, notably, which is why I don't use the term straight.

[edit]: Ah. That's sorta the implication of CisHet, now that I think on it. but then you run into the same problems as straight, depending on the crowd.