I have heard different explanations as to what bisexuals and pansexuals are and I have gotten really confused. I need to know which is which so I can finally conclude what my sexuality really is.
Bisexuals are attracted to people of the same and opposite gender/sex. Transgender/ed people may or may not be included, same as to a straight person. Pansexuals are attracted to all people. That includes both the same gender/sex and the opposite gender/sex, as well as other genders/sexes. Includes transgender/ed people. Pansexuals sometimes say they are attracted to the person, not the parts. Or are attracted to personality regardless of gender/sex.
Pansexuals are bisexuals that don't believe in gender playing a role in attraction. Personality comes first- or so my pan friend tells me.
So am I a pansexual if I fall in love with the heart of the person , but at the same time I get turned on by both men and women? I can watch all kinds of porn straight,gay,lesbian and be turned on by all of it.
IMO there's a very thin line seperating the two. Technically speaking the difference is that pansexuals get attracted to a persons personality, regardless of their gender, whereas bisexuals, though able of being attracted to any gender, are primarily attracted to a person because of gender. But as I said that's the technical difference. In reality I notice most bisexuals and pansexuals are virtually the same, though I've met one or two bisexuals who are not attracted to people who do not have a stereotypical gender expression. But they are very rare afaik.
I can't help but feel that the majority of people are attracted to someone's personality, though it's restricted by hetero/homosexuality and the inability to get over a distinct aversion to intimacy with the same/opposite sex. The only difference I could imagine is that a pansexual is a bisexual who doesn't experience physical attraction.
It's false to say that pansexuals wouldn't experience physical attraction. Say, I'm bisexual, a 2 on the Kinsey scale. I like women best, and I am attracted mostly by one type of women. I don't know if I could fall in love with a man, never have. If I was pansexual, all that wouldn't matter. The body the person is in wouldn't matter to me; their personalities would have me attracted (or not) by them, and their personalities alone would have me fall in love with them.