comphet
/ˈkɒmp.hɛt/
CommonShort for compulsory heterosexuality. The social pressure that makes queer people assume they are straight by default.
Originally from feminist and lesbian theory. Online use is mostly personal and reflective. Often used with some humor but the underlying feeling is genuine and can be painful.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | comphet had me thinking i just admired women a lot | The speaker did not recognize attraction to women as attraction because they assumed they were straight. | tiktok, 2023 |
| 02 | the number of straight relationships i stayed in because of comphet is not okay | The speaker went along with heterosexual relationships they did not truly want due to social pressure. | reddit, 2023 |
| 03 | rewatching this show and she is CLEARLY a lesbian, the writers just did not want to say it. peak comphet writing | A fictional character's behavior reads as queer but is framed as straight, which mirrors real-world heterosexual assumptions. | tumblr, 2022 |
| 04 | i thought every girl thought about kissing their friends. turns out that is comphet | The speaker did not recognize their attraction as same-sex attraction because they assumed it was universal. | x, 2024 |
Use it when
- Reflecting on not realizing you were queer because you assumed heterosexuality.
- Describing a pattern of going along with opposite-sex relationships out of social expectation.
- Analyzing a fictional character's arc as a closeted queer person.
Do not use it when
- Using it to dismiss all heterosexual attraction as fake or invalid.
- Applying it to bi or pan people to argue their straight-passing relationships are not real.
Origin and context
Shortened from 'compulsory heterosexuality', a concept introduced by poet and feminist Adrienne Rich in her 1980 essay 'Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence'. The shortened form became widely used in online queer spaces from the early 2010s onward.
- First seen
- 2010s
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/comphetUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0