Between somebody who is Bisexual and somebody who is Pansexual? I looked up the definitions of both and came up with these two: Bisexual: (orientation) bi- meaning two; the sexual attraction to both male/men and female/women, and one identifying with this orientation. Pansexual: (orientation) pan- meaning all; the sexual attraction to all sexes/genders, and one identifying with this orientation. Is there something I'm not seeing here? What's the difference?
This is been discussed in several threads, including these: http://emptyclosets.com/forum/chit-chat/100427-what-does-mean-pan-sexual.html http://emptyclosets.com/forum/anonymous-discussions/98318-*sigh*-please-educate-yourself.html http://emptyclosets.com/forum/anonymous-discussions/95697-pretty-good-explanation-imo.html There is no single definition we all agree on, but the basic difference is pansexuals prefer not to think of gender and sexual attraction as having only two choices. It's more complicated, but much of it boils down to that. Personally, a person's sex/gender is rarely relevant to my attraction. More specifically, since I am attracted primarily to dominance and submission rather than males and females, I find "bisexual" limiting, but I'm willing to use it as a general label when such labels are appropriate. I'm rather fond of "pomosexual", but that will confuse more people.
Thanks a lot. I just found it confusing because I didn't know that gender referred to anything other than 'male and female' in this context. So basically, someone who is Bisexual is only attracted to men and women, whereas someone who is Pansexual can be attracted to anything? I'm still a bit confused - I don't see how trans people fall outside the categories of 'male and female'.
They don't, not for purposes of this discussion (I'm no expert, but I don't think it's an issue here). In many cases, it's more a matter of emphasis and concept -- not that there aren't two basic choices, but that sex/gender isn't the important distinction. While "bisexual" is technically correct to identify most pansexuals, it misses the point. There's more to it than this, but I'm trying to address the specific question here.
In my understanding, pansexuality is more of an attraction to personality regardless of gender, and therefore, people who are pansexual don't feel very much sexual attraction to someone until they have spent time together as friends or dating, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
I wouldn't put that in the definition of pansexuals or any other category. The various sexuality labels are about what/who we are attracted to, not the process of getting there.
I guess you're right Chloe, that's just how I interpreted it, but I'm not even close to an expert on the subject
Ricket, it's reasonable that you'd make that interpretation, especially after what a lot of people have posted. Labels are problematic, particularly when trying to make them work perfectly.