Difference between bisexual and pansexual?

Bisexual is attraction to both males and females.
Pansexual is attraction to all genders -- males, females, transgenders, transsexuals, androgynes, etc. etc. etc. They are gender-blind.
I hope that sums it up.

 

Bisexuals swing both ways.
Pansexuals swing all ways.
But, yeah, CrystalRaindrop pretty much summed it up nicely.
I, myself, have met bisexuals who would never even think of dating a tans person or a cross-dresser and a couple of them even found such things quite repulsive. A pan person? They'd totally go for it. I actually once dated someone who was pan and I personally think they're one of the best kinds of people to date because no matter what you are, they'll always love ya

 

Just wanted to add that, while bisexual did originate in the context on liking men and women while ignoring the people in between, generally speaking bisexual-identified people are closer to the definition of pansexual than strictly bisexual. Of course, there are always exceptions.

The difference between the two, then, is mostly a matter of which the person prefers to be called.

 

tetraquark is right. But because of the actuall definitions ppl use today, I'd proably be more accurate if I said I was panromantic/bisexual, because when it comes to luv, i don't think gender matters, but i'm sexually attracted to females and males.
*maybe i should re-write my orientation on here so that it is more specific...?...

 

Pansexuals are hipster bisexuals.

In all seriousness, the two labels look the same to me. I think too much emphasis is placed on sexual identity to begin with.

 

The term "pansexual" as two advantages over "bisexual." The first is that it recognizes the existence of people outside the gender binary. However, as mentioned above, many people who identify as bi are in fact attracted to people outside the binary. As a matter of everyday life, very few of us regularly encounter people outside of the binary frequently enough to know whether we can be attracted to them (a single experience of attraction or non-attraction can't suffice, there are always exceptions to our normal attraction and no one's attracted to everyone they meet).

The second reason is that pan doesn't have the stigma attached to it that bi does. There is a lot of stigma in both the gay and straight communities attached to bisexuals. They are sluts, they aren't really attracted to men, they aren't really attracted to women, they're just closeted gays, they spread HIV to the straight (if they're male) or lesbian (if they're female) community. Pan, being a newer term, doesn't have the stigma as strongly attached to it.

I confess that I see very little need for the term "pansexual," and that I think using it to define self-identified bisexuals as not attracted to people outside the gender binary is very rude and insulting. I have no real objection to people who use it, but it's not a term I would use.

 

Hey IM mew here and i want to learn more about my sexuality. i assume im bisexual but when i read this discussion. i think i kind of in the pansexual spectrum. idk tho so all im saying is, how do you post a thread??