[Glenn.]

No it doesn't exist.

[Northern Monkey]

Tbh i could'nt imagine anyone being heterophobic since their own parents are straight.

[billy123]

Originally Posted by Firewire

Bad example, really.

I think gay bars should be inclusive to straight people as well but gay people are turned away from bars all the time (not so much in the UK).

I dont understand the point you are making its not a competition who can be most discriminated against. The fact it happens to gay people in straight bars as well doesnt affect anything at all.
Its discrimination whichever way around it works. It is no different.

[Firewire]

Originally Posted by bobnot

I dont understand the point you are making its not a competition who can be most discriminated against. The fact it happens to gay people in straight bars as well doesnt affect anything at all.
Its discrimination.

I can understand why gay people wouldn't want straight people in their bar because they want it to be a haven for gay people as it's hard to find a place to be accepted. I think straight people should be allowed in, but I understand why you would be turned away as there are plenty straight bars you'd be welcome at that might not be the case for gay people.

It's not a competition and I don't understand why people are shouting "I've been discriminated against too!"

[billy123]

Originally Posted by Firewire

I can understand why gay people wouldn't want straight people in their bar because they want it to be a haven for gay people as it's hard to find a place to be accepted. I think straight people should be allowed in, but I understand why you would be turned away as there are plenty straight bars you'd be welcome at that might not be the case for gay people.

It's not a competition and I don't understand why people are shouting "I've been discriminated against too!"

Just take a second to let that sink in. Now swap the words gay for straight in your post and look how ridiculous and bigoted that is.
Discrimination is discrimination

Originally Posted by Firewire

I can understand why straight people wouldn't want gay people in their bar because they want it to be a haven for straight people as it's hard to find a place to be accepted. I think gay people should be allowed in, but I understand why you would be turned away as there are plenty gay bars you'd be welcome at that might not be the case for straight people.

It's not a competition and I don't understand why people are shouting "I've been discriminated against too!"

[Locke.]

a lot of heterophobia present in this very thread

[Firewire]

Originally Posted by bobnot

Just takea second to let that sink in. Now swap the word gay for straight and look how ridiculous and bigoted that is.

It's bigoted because gay people are the minority. Replace gay with disabled people or black people. It's the same thing. I don't understand why it matters?

[billy123]

Originally Posted by Firewire

It's bigoted because gay people are the minority. Replace gay with disabled people or black people. It's the same thing. I don't understand why it matters?

So i see.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by bobnot

Just take a second to let that sink in. Now swap the words gay for straight in your post and look how ridiculous and bigoted that is.
Discrimination is discrimination

Sorry but what do straight people need a haven for? Are they attacked for being straight? Where do they find it being hard to be accepted when 90% of the world is straight? There literally aren't plenty of gay bars

DID YOU EVEN READ WHAT YOU CHANGED

[Jessica.]

No, I'm straight and I've never felt that I had any disadvantage in my life because of it. I've never seen discrimination or xenophobia towards another straight person either.

[Glenn.]

I have never heard of a straight person being discriminated against for being straight. I'm laughing out loud at the thought.

[Ninastar]

Thanks to whichever mod cleared this thread up. I think it's a good topic to debate about, as I like hear different opinions about stuff like this.

[Samuel.]

It absolutely can exist. I'm dumbfounded by the idea it couldn't. You can have irrational feelings and be prejudice towards anything or anyone. How can that be disputed?

I'm willing to bet someone out of the 7 billion odd on this planet has an irrational dislike and prejudice for straight people. It's incredibly close minded to rule out the possibility.

Same goes for "reverse racism".

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by Samuel.

It absolutely can exist. I'm dumbfounded by the idea it couldn't. You can have irrational feelings and be prejudice towards anything or anyone. How can that be disputed?

I'm willing to bet someone out of the 7 billion odd on this planet has an irrational dislike and prejudice for straight people. It's incredibly close minded to rule out the possibility.

Same goes for "reverse racism".

Thank you, I totally agree. Well said.

[Jessica.]

Originally Posted by Samuel.

It absolutely can exist. I'm dumbfounded by the idea it couldn't. You can have irrational feelings and be prejudice towards anything or anyone. How can that be disputed?

I'm willing to bet someone out of the 7 billion odd on this planet has an irrational dislike and prejudice for straight people. It's incredibly close minded to rule out the possibility.

Same goes for "reverse racism".

Of course someone feels that way but it wouldn't be labelled as heterophobia, it's just an anomaly of the small minority of people. Heterophobia doesn't exist but there are obviously people who don't like straight people,just as there are people who don't like gays or have reservations about them who aren't homophobic.

[Mystic Mock]

Of course it can exist if the gay/lesbian/bisexual person has suffered on homophobia all of their lives by heterosexuals then I think that it can build resentment towards heterosexuals.

And as I've said in the past I think that you can be racist to your own skin colour or be homophobic when you're gay, so why can't people be heterophobic? Or hell even rarer than that and actually be a heterosexual that's heterophobic?

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Daniel_

When have straight people ever been bullied at school for being straight, not been given the right to marry, been thrown out of places, been look down upon for being straight, been killed in there country for being straight, being straight becoming a criminal offence...

Never!

That's discrimination though, not prejudice.

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

Of course it can exist if the gay/lesbian/bisexual person has suffered on homophobia all of their lives by heterosexuals then I think that it can build resentment towards heterosexuals.

And as I've said in the past I think that you can be racist to your own skin colour or be homophobic when you're gay, so why can't people be heterophobic? Or hell even rarer than that and actually be a heterosexual that's heterophobic?

Wow, never thought I'd see the day where we agree on something.

[iRyan]

Originally Posted by Smithy

Homophobia is based on a system of oppression, straight people have never been oppressed you can't be heterophobic it's dumb AF to think so

Gay people are bullied, thrown out of their homes, attacked and murdered but who cares because they're making jokes about straight people on the internet

This. Straight people are not oppressed and that's where this discussion ends.

The only reason gay people could be afraid of straight people is because of the way they have been treated by straight people.

[LukeB]

Does anyone actually unfavour straight peoples opinions or are straight people unfavourable and things like that? Straight people do not get bullied/attacked/disowned for being straight. I've never heard a story saying "i was beaten up for being straight" like iryan said gay people could fear/hate straight because of how they treat them.

[Ammi]

...bullying, attacking, dis-owning though Luke are extremes, not everyone who is homophobic would have those reactions, and probably not even the majority of homophobic people...


..yes I think it does exist, not nearly to the same extent though obviously as homophobia does and without any suppression ..I guess we wouldn't know to what extent because it's like the thread that Caitlin also made about whether young children's TV programmes should include more of a balance of gay character...it's what from a very early age we're absorbing and have been taught to absorb what is 'norm'...and heterosexual relationships are what we're given as that 'norm'...so there would always be less openly displayed heterophobia... I mean these homosexual people, they're not 'normal' are they, that's what homophobes feel and society has made it easy for them to feel that and display it much more negatively...

[Samuel.]

Originally Posted by Jessica.

Of course someone feels that way but it wouldn't be labelled as heterophobia, it's just an anomaly of the small minority of people. Heterophobia doesn't exist but there are obviously people who don't like straight people,just as there are people who don't like gays or have reservations about them who aren't homophobic.

Why wouldn't it be labelled as that?

Originally Posted by iRyan

This. Straight people are not oppressed and that's where this discussion ends.

The only reason gay people could be afraid of straight people is because of the way they have been treated by straight people.

And neither have I seen a definition that says they have to be oppressed or a minority. And when we're talking about irrational prejudice it often doesn't involve any reasoning that is clear to you or me, but to the individual who it involves, so that statement is null.


If heterophobia is the opposite the homophobia:

homophobia
Dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.

prejudice
Dislike, hostility, or unjust behaviour deriving from preconceived and unfounded opinions

discrimination
The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex

phobia
An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something

- Oxford Dictionary

I'm not sure where this idea that it can't exist comes from. None of these definitions even mention oppression.

[Josy]

I agree with Sam

[kirklancaster]

Of course it exists. The argument that it does not, is really just semantics. If one solitary human contracted a new previously unknown disease, that disease would have a scientific name within minutes which would forever classify any future victims who show the same symptoms and ill-effects.

Numbers are unimportant, if just one person hates straight people, then 'Heterophobia' - if that is its name - exists. How can it not?

It does not have to be endemic or pandemic, it just has to 'be'.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by iRyan

This. Straight people are not oppressed and that's where this discussion ends.

The only reason gay people could be afraid of straight people is because of the way they have been treated by straight people.

Are bananas oppressed? Buttons? Balloons maybe?

Small spaces? Crowds?

Clowns? Are we in the midst of a terrible culture of clown oppression?

How about dogs, horses, spiders? Silk? Velcro?

The answer I'm looking for there is "no". And yet there are phobias for all of those things.

A phobia is an irrational fear. Nothing more, nothing less. It has nothing to do with oppression. It has nothing to do with how one responds to that fear.

If there are people in the world who are irrationally scared of people because they are straight - if there is even one person who can be described such - then yes, heterophobia exists.