what does it mean?

[cos]

Please comment on this post before you read anyone else's comments.

This weekend, I saw a bumper sticker that said,
Straight, White, English-Speaking
Proud American
For a moment, I was offended ... then I started thinking of several different possible intentions, meanings, and contexts for this slogan. After a bit of confusion, I settled on curiosity. What does it mean? What did the people who sold it intend for it to convey, and what did the person who put it on their car intend to say by it? I can think of several different possibilities or nuances, and maybe there are more.

So tell me, what do you read in this bumper sticker slogan? And if, like me, you see several possibilities, which one came first, before you thought about it?

Comments

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Hm.
First reading seems a little defensive, kinda a reaction to feeling like everyone else gets to be proud of their minority status, but those who are in the "privileged majority" only get shit for it. Particularly if they're straight, white, male, and english speaking.

I can see it as trying to be nasty, too, but it doesn't have to be. And there is a rising feeling of "hey, how come everyone else gets slack but not me?"

Interestingly, this bumper sticker does not by definition leave out Latinos, as long as they learned English at some point. (Honestly, after the time I spent on the SouthWest border, and the fact that I could practice my Spanish with every hotel maid I've ever encountered, including in Vermont, I've got some strong feelings about people needing to learn English)

I think I remember some buttons at this past Arisia: "Straight, Monogamous, Vanilla." Some of them added "but thanks, though." A number of people were offended by those buttons, too. Interestingly, in that environment the assumption was that people might well be bi/poly/switch, and I think those who weren't began to feel the need to advertize.

[skreeky]

I have one of those buttons. It's because I got sick of the assumption that I was bi, the assumption that I was kinky, and the assumption that I was poly, immediately followed by the implication that there was something wrong with me for being so boooooooring when I turned out to be none of the above.

I note that I do NOT use it in any context where the original three assumptions are not made. Not in public. Certainly not on my car.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

I think I remember some buttons at this past Arisia: "Straight, Monogamous, Vanilla."

A somewhat less inflamatory version of that is "Straight but not narrow", which I really like and identify with.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i've used "i'm mostly straight but not narrow" for a bit... don't have a button though. i loved the original phrase for years. have used it.

it's generally been received with humor and acceptance, particularly say, when i'm being hit on, but am not interested in that given trait.

any given person can't be all things for all people. there's almost no point trying to. it'll drive you insane, in a bad way.

#

the difference

[antimony.livejournal.com]

I'd say the big difference with the Straight/Mono/Vanilla button is that such folks were having to put up with Actual Crap TM at Arisia, while Straight English-Speaking Males in this country don't. (Both of those are debatable points, of course.) Also, Arisia is supposed to be an SF con, not a bi/poly/kink con, and I think trying to keep it on-focus is a legitimate goal for someone to have.

My instant reaction to the bumper sticker was "bigoted asshole". On further contemplation, it's "obnoxious idiot" because he doesn't understand the priviledged position he has in society.

Re: the difference

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

actually, straight english speaking males, in particular at arisia and such, do get Actual Crap...

cons attract "weird" people. weird is good. put enough of them together and you start getting patterns. people are social. it doesn't matter that arisia is a sci-fi/fantasy con, slowly adding more media than pure literary, people are still social animals. as such, they're going to flirt and stuff. a large many of them long haired hippy weirdo sci fi lovers are also overlapping crowds of many sorts, especially including those of various kink, sexuality, etc etc etc. can' avoid it. it's like trying to separate salt from ocean water with a feather (ooh kinky).

back to the Actual Crap tm - people get all huffy when they make advances, and are rejected, and some of them get downright irate when it's because you don't love them because of some trait you don't embrace yourself.

a LOT of people think those vanilla straights are just WEIRD and need fixing. they're perfectly happy being vanilla and don't wantto change. you've seen the phrase "i'm a poly, but not with you?" well, how about "i'm vanilla but not with you"...

just be excellent to each other :)

#

Re: the difference

[antimony.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's what I *meant*. The "straight white males" just don't get crap in day-to-day American life, whereas mono/vanilla folk at Arisia do. Thus the button at Arisia seems reasonable, while the bumper sticker seems bigoted.

I do think the Arisia button can also be interpreted as a commentary on what Arisia should be about -- should it be a little about SF, a lot about socializing (in many forms, some sexual, some not), or more about SF.