Bisexuality vs. Pansexuality

Let's see... Bisexuality is being attracted to men and women, pansexuality is being (potentially) attracted to all genders/sexes. I've heard people say in relation to pansexuality that they are attracted to personalities, or the person, rather than the parts. Someone else can explain more I'm sure.

 

I've heard multiple explanations about what the difference is. My current understanding as it has been described to me is that you appreciate beauty regardless of gender. I think a lot of people use it as a way of breaking down the gender binary and acknowledging that bisexual isn't quite politically correct because there are more than just males and females. There are for instance the bigender, genderqueer, genderfluid, intersex, pangender, and agender individuals out there.

Though I think it lacks a clear definition or practical usage. I honestly think different people have different definitions or ideas of what it means to be pansexual.


Edit: I do think some people in the community are guilty of using it in a "hipster" sense. For example "Oh you like both genders, I don't even notice gender. I'm that open minded and into people for their personalities alone." So in an attempt to see if I was alone in this believe I googled "pansexual hipster cat." I guess I was not the first to see this comparison.

Also, I don't want anyone to think that I am in any way invalidating the realness of pansexuality.

 

The main definiton is, like everyone said, that pansexuals are attracted to the soul and that bisexuals are attracted to gender.

But there is a lot of debate about the whole thing.

Take for example a gay couple. Lets say that one of the guys, after being in a relationship for 2 years, finally comes out as being transsexual. They decide to transition and want to let their partner know. If the partner decides to stay with them, then what does that make the partner? Gay, but with one exception? Pansexual since he was able to only care about the soul? Straight because he is now in love with a woman?

Or what if someone is genderqueer, but a gay person is still able to fall for them. Does that then make them pansexual? Or are they just gay since the person, while being gendequeer, still has a penis?

Not to mention that if gender is really a social construct then we need certain lines to distinguish who is male and female. Where do you draw the lines and how far into the spectrum must you be to be considered a "legit" pansexual?

So its a very grey area. You have to also keep in mind that there is pretty much no research done on pansexuality at all. The important thing to me is really just to be comfortable with whatever label you decide to give yourself, and to respect whatever label other people decide to give themselves as well

 

I think Pansexuality is different from Bisexuality because Bisexuals are attracted to Men and Women since "Bi" in Bisexual implies two meaning two genders/sexes. But Pansexuals are attracted to Men, Women, and Other (Transgender, Intersex, and other non-binary groups). From how I understand it Bisexual implies more than one and Pansexual implies more than two.

But correct me if I'm wrong anybody.

 

The Escapist has nailed it!

Pansexuality is based more upon your overall attraction of the individual, regardless as to the sex or gender. It's more related to the person's personality and personal characteristics.

For example:

A bisexual can potentially be attracted to either a male or a female. Whereas, a pansexual can also be attracted to an intersexed person, or perhaps even a transgender person, as well.

 

Bisexual (as everyone else put it) is the physical/mental attraction towards men and women.

Pansexuality (the way I see it) is the attraction to someone due to their personality and attractiveness, their gender, sex, or sexual orientation does not really play apart in anything. If I met some beautiful transgendered man who saw himself as a bisexual, I wouldn't care. Straight women, don't care. Anything else, don't care.

It's basically loving a person for who they are and not the parts.

 

I think the reason that pansexuality sometimes gets the hipster kind of negative image it does is because it implies that people that don't identify as pansexual are NOT attracted to someone by their inner personality, but rather for their outer appearance or other shallow reasons.

 

This is how id put it exactly. Personaly i could never see myself with anyone except a man or women (no offense to anyone whos not those its just not me).

 

Me too! Though, it's definitely okay to be something else. I changed my username btw

 

Well, sometimes pan folks label themselves as bi so that they can get the point halfway across without having to explain the difference to folks.

I didn't realize we weren't attracted to souls. Hope I can find some genders without souls attached.

 

It's still confusing to me because I haven't seen a universal stance of what their sexuality is.

Some say they'll like anyone regardless of gender, there's only two genders? Even if someone is a transgender, the gender they identify as is the gender they are. Only exception maybe being bigender (shemale?) in which case there's a lot of people that like that, even straight guys. I don't think it's constricted to someone only a pan would date.

Then some say their attraction for someone is based off personality..but how far does that go? Is it only for gender (physical genitals) or are they incapable of being shallow as well?

What if someone if there is a simply open-minded bisexual? Are they pansexual?

Then again this is why I don't like labels and usually just refer to my sexuality as "I like boys."

 

Insert ginger joke here...

Anyway, I actually hadn't heard the term pansexual until I joined EC either. I'm glad you asked! I'm bisexual, but I don't think that would mean that I wouldn't be interested in dating someone not "strictly" male or female if there was a connection. I'm attracted to what's inside of a person regardless of their genitals. I thought that was the definition of bisexual... and now I'm confused lol.

 

Hum, to me if a person thinks it fits them, then use it.! To me to finally be able to use a term that explains me or mostly explains me then i'am happy to have it now. It has been along time to figure out what is happening, and to figure out what to do next. Finally able to express myself with it, and explain to some that ask what it means.
So to me it works

 

Did you even read my whole post? I clearly stated that there are a lot of issues when it comes to the term.

But yes, one of the issues is that some bisexuals feel insulted by the term because it implies they only care about superficial things.

That's part of the whole debate. What is the line that differentiates a bisexual from being pan or a pansexual from being bi? Its very arbitrary and only you could answer the question. You could also even say that the term was brought up as a way to label yourself as bi, but to stay away from all the issues that come with it.

Just label yourself whatever you want, and as long as you are happy then whatever. The only thing that matters is to know who you are and that's it.

 

I'm pansexual. it basically means that gender has nothing to do with who I fall in love with. men, women, trans( mtf or ftm) I am currently dating a transgender mtf who is in transition. It's my first relationship like this, but clearly, I am in love with the person without giving 2 shits about what body parts he has or doesn't have, or in the next 2 years or so, the parts he will and wont have. Hope this helps??

 

I am sorry for having made you angry. I did read your whole post, and what I read was that you had said pansexuality was being attracted to the soul and then went on to describe a relationship between a gay person and someone who came out as trans (and presumably straight to make this example work). Because I didn't see that you were talking about bisexual folks in that example, I assumed that what you said earlier stood and was not part of the debate that you outlined over the word.

I was not going out of my way to read that uncharitably; I just genuinely thought you were really talking about the possibility of gay and trans people maintaining attraction as being problematizing for the term pansexual, not that some bisexuals feel insulted by the word because, as you said, it implies we only care about superficial things. In the future, if there's even the possibility of it being unclear, I'll ask first before responding.

 

This pretty much sums up the whole thread. Being a relatively new term, pansexuality doesn't have a clear definition; some people say it's attraction to personality, regardless of gender, while others view it as being inclusive to people outside of the binary. For me, I see it as the latter. That isn't to say that bisexual people can't be attracted to those who are gender variant or intersex, but it's a way to specify right off the bat that you'd be cool dating someone like that. In the case of binary trans people, it can also be helpful. Believe it or not, a lot of bisexual people don't want to date us, for whatever reason (which doesn't have to be transphobic).

Lately, I'm really starting to dislike the term pansexual, because of all the debates it apparently starts. I feel it has a very negative connotation that's associated with teenage girls who think they're better than everyone else for their sexuality, and when faced with the opportunity to actually date a transgender person, I believe a large majority wouldn't be as open to it as they claim. On the other hand, I refuse to call myself bisexual, because it would be contradicting my belief that there is no gender binary, and that is a very firm value of mine. Nowadays, I just call myself queer.