I've googled definitions but they're not so clear. Am I pansexual if I'm attracted to males, females and other variations? I don't think so.. But, are bisexuals attracted to anything other than males and females? I think I find myself attracted to all genders but certainly not all people. I find plenty of people ugly or unattractive, without meaning to sound mean. And, I find myself most attracted to personalities (and this applies physically too). But if someone is ugly to me physically and has a great personality, I won't find them attractive. I know that sounds shallow, but I'm just trying to be straight (no pun intended)
the 'pan' in pansexual literally means 'all'. So pansexual means attracted to all. So you were right in saying pansexual mean attracted to man, woman, and everything in between. (correct me if I'm wrong, fellow posters) In 'Romeo and Juliet' Friar Lawrence said that young people are attracted by looks over personality, and this can't be truer! I'm the same way! So just to recap: pan means all. Shakespear likes good looking people. I hope this helped!
"Pansexual" emerged as a term for two reasons. 1) a growing feeling that the term "bisexual" implicitly excluded people who don't identify as male or female. 2) the word "bisexual" came to have increasingly negative connotations within both the gay and straight communities. The difference isn't really one of attraction, both bi and pan people can be and are attracted to people outside the gender binary; rather the difference is one of identity politics. People who ID as bi tend to either be older (from before the term "pan" existed), to not have encountered pan (or encountered it after already IDing as bi and not wanting to change), or want to reclaim the term "bi." People who ID as pan tend to be younger, to be concerned with gender identity rather than sexual, and to have a stronger desire to challenge the gender binary (though loads of bi people also challenge the gender binary). My general rule of thumb is to treat both identities as equivalent and to use whichever term the person IDs as for that person. Under no circumstances do I tell someone who IDs as pan that they should ID as bi or vice versa.
Pansexual - attracted to people regardless of gender indentity Bisexual - attracted to (certain) guys or girls At least that's what I think it is. Don't worry though, you don't sound shallow! A lot of people are more so attracted to looks, including me. But that's natural.
On top of everything already said, I think that it’s perfectly within reason to say that you’re attracted to all genders but not all people, just as someone who’s straight doesn't necessarily feel attraction towards every person of the opposite sex.
Also, pansexuals are not attracted to everybody. That would be ridiculous. Like anyone else, they're attracted to some people and not to others. As with bi people, though, the gender of the individual is not what determines whether they're attracted to them.
Because of how new pansexuality is as a term, like many terms about gender, its definition isn't exactly set in stone; ask ten different people what the difference is and you'll probably get ten different answers. In my conversations with the pansexual individuals in my life, one of the things that seems to be common between them is that they are sexually attracted to someone based on their personality, not their physical appearance; "hearts, not parts" is a popular motto among the community. If you are sexually attracted to personality over appearances, that's one reason to think you might be pan (and vice-versa). And it doesn't make you shallow to admit that you're attracted to the physical aspects of a person; you can't help it, after all. "Shallow" would be only wanting to get to know people if they're attractive.
I think 'pansexual' implies gender blindness in all respects, where 'bisexual' doesn't necessarily. That's my take, anyway
As I've said before, my main objection to the term "pansexual" is that many (not all) pan people implicitly redefine "bisexual." By saying pan means attracted to personality, not bodies you are implicitly saying that bi people (and to a lesser extent straight and gay people) are not attracted to personality. This is a redefinition of bi being effected by people who do not ID as bi, and therefore I find it highly objectionable.
