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Healthline: Pansexual and Bisexual

Study: Straight People Might Be More Sexually Fluid Than They Think

LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

“I just like a person, and I genuinely don’t care what the equipment is as long as we’re happy.”

Do Pansexuals like everyone? Pansexual identified people have the physical/emotional/spiritual capability of falling in love or being with someone regardless of their gender. This doesn't mean they like everyone, and some Pansexuals do have physical preferences. The identity is used merely to express the openness and fluidity to people of all genders.

How is Pansexuality different from Polysexuality? Pan means "all" while Poly means "many" and so there are some similar overlaps, a Polysexual may be attracted to some gender variant people but not have the capability or desire to be with some others. Pansexuals are open to any person regardless of their gender or sex.

Among celebrities who have identified themselves as pansexual are...

Prince

Miley Cyrus

Kristen Stewart (Twilight)

Janelle Monae (singer, actor)

Lily Rose Depp (Daughter of Johnny Depp)

Shailene Woodley (Divergent, Fault in Our Stars)

Ireland Baldwin (Daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger)

Angel Haze (rapper)

Ava Phillipe (Daughter of Reese Witherspoon)

Wayne Brady

Pansexuality Explained

Stars Who Are Flying the Pansexual Flag
What is Pansexual?

Wayne Brady Comes Out As Pansexual

What is the Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual?

Pansexuality on Schitt's Creek

In an episode from Schitt's Creek's first season, David Rose (Dan Levy) tries to explain his sexuality to Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire). Using a wine analogy, David, who is pansexual, talks about drinking red and white wine. "So, just to be clear, I'm a red wine drinker," Stevie begins. "I only drink red wine. And, up until last night, I was under the impression that you too only drank red wine." David responds, saying, "I do drink red wine. But I also drink white wine. And I have been known to sample the occasional rose. And a couple of summers back I tried a merlot that used to be a chardonnay." Stevie sums up, "So, you're just really open to all wines." And David concludes, "I like the wine and not the label."

Wayne Brady Comes Out As Pansexual
Wine Metaphor: Figuring Out Pansexuality

Pansexuality Explained
Study: Straight People Might Be More Sexually Fluid Than They Think
What is Pansexual?
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Pansexuality and Bisexuality

Are There Differences Between Bisexual and Pansexual?

There is some overlap when defining bisexual and pansexual orientation. However, there are important differences between the two identities. Bisexual people are attracted sexually and romantically to both males and females, and are capable of engaging in sensual relationships with either sex. Despite being able to form meaningful, lasting relationships with both sexes, bisexual individuals may, to a small or large degree, have a preference for one sex over the other. Similarly, pansexual people may be sexually attracted to individuals who identify as male or female. However, they may also be attracted to those who identify as intersex, third-gender, androgynous, transsexual, or the many other sexual and gender identities. The latter distinction is what draws the line between pansexuality and bisexuality.

Prince: Pansexual Genius
Info: Bisexuality

Them: Wayne Brady Comes Out as Pansexual

What is Pansexuality: We Got Answers

Hollywood Pansexuals

Healthline: Pansexual and Bisexual

People who self-identify as pansexual do so with purpose, to express that they are able to be attracted to various gender and sexual identities, whether they fall within the gender binary or not. Recognition of the existence of different genders and sexualities is a major aspect of pansexual identity. Pansexual people are bisexual, in-fact. However, bisexuality does not place the same emphasis on sexual and gender identity awareness, but more simply indicates attraction to the two (generally accepted) biological sexes.

The differences between the two sexual identities are undermined by the fact that some people who consider themselves pansexual identify themselves as bisexual out of convenience, as it’s a more widely known sexual identity. In addition, some people who consider themselves bisexual may be open to dating someone who falls outside the gender binary. Self-perception, rather than objective sexuality, determines which sexual identity an individual chooses to embrace. Simply being attracted to both biological sexes does not mean one considers oneself bisexual. In fact, many people at one time or another will have some romantic or sexual experience or feelings toward each sex, though, most would not embrace the bisexual label. Similarly, being attracted to people who embrace varied identities does not mean that individual will identify as pansexual.

Pansexuality Explained

Stars Who Are Flying the Pansexual Flag
What is Pansexual?

Wayne Brady Comes Out As Pansexual

What is the Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual?

What Does Abrosexual Mean and How is it Different From Pansexuality?

There are few organizations which are geared solely for those who identify as pansexual, and many bisexual organizations include alternative identities such as: pansexual, omnisexual, multisexual, and other non-monosexualities, so representation and visibility likely also play a part in how people choose to self-identify. There is some controversy over the two labels, as some in the bisexual community feel as though the pansexual label is a form of bisexual erasure and that the bisexual identity is already inclusive of those who have an attraction to those who fall anywhere along the gender continuum and outside of it. There is a feeling that pansexual people are simply avoiding the bisexual label due to the stigmas associated with it (that bisexual people are simply greedy and promiscuous, and spread disease among both the heterosexual and homosexual communities). Conversely, many in the pansexual community feel as though these beliefs are forms of prejudice and pansexual erasure. Not only those who identify as biologically male or female identify as bisexual, the gender identities of people who use and feel comfortable with this label vary.

Pansexuality Explained

Wayne Brady Comes Out As Pansexual

The pansexual label, however, is more accommodating for those, regardless of their own gender identity, who sometimes do not fit neatly into the male or female genders, for example, when people who are engaged in a homosexual or heterosexual relationship and their partner transitions from male-to-female or female-to-male. Although, some choose to take on change their sexual identity according to the gender to which their partner has transitioned, an increasing number have chosen to self-label as pansexual, queer, or one of the other non-monosexual identities. The pansexual identity is much more accommodating to the coupling of individuals who embrace various sexual and gender identities. Many people strongly identify as either bisexual or pansexual, and never use the labels interchangeably. The identity is used merely to express the openness and fluidity to people of all genders.

LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

Study: Straight People Might Be More Sexually Fluid Than They Think

Comparison to Bisexuality

"Pansexuality means that you might find yourself attracted to a person regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. It can feel strange because we still don’t hear about it that often, but I tell my pansexual patients that they are lucky, because they can love everyone and anyone. Pansexuals are attracted to the person, not their physical form. Pan is the Greek word for all, so a pansexual could be sexually and/or romantically interested in any person of all identities. For example, pansexuals can be sexually and/or romantically attracted to someone who is transgender, non-binary, or gender fluid. Pansexual people can sometimes think that they are just bisexual. It can take time for them to realize that their sexual orientation is all-encompassing. Of course, just because a pansexual person has the capacity to be attracted to a wider range of partners isn't the same as being promiscuous. Pansexuals have the ability to love all people and don’t look at gender as being the most important aspect. They look at personality traits versus the package they come in."

-Holly Richmond, PhD, sex therapist, New York City

"Pansexual is not the same as bisexual. While there are definitely some similarities, there are some distinctive differences between the experiences of being bi and being pan. Bisexuality is where someone's attracted to people of more than one gender (whether that's male, female, non-binary or trans people for example). Whereas pansexuals don't see gender. This might be hard to wrap your head around but bear with me on this. I, personally, get drawn in by a person's vibes and the feeling I get from them as a being. A person's energy when they walk into a room is the most important thing here, and I tend to fall in love with overall beauty. Gender is just not a thing that comes into it at all for me as this overall picture of the person is what creates the attraction. I believe that there are more than two genders and that gender works along a spectrum. My attraction spans the entire spectrum and my brain just does not divide people up into categories."
-Lana Peswani

LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

Actress Jena Malone Comes Out as Pansexual
Pansexuality: Everything You Need to Know
Past and Popular Usage of the Term "Pansexual"
LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

Healthline: Pansexual and Bisexual

Pansexuality may be considered a sexual orientation in its own right or a branch of bisexuality, to indicate an alternative sexual identity. Because pansexual people are open to relationships with people who do not identify as strictly men or women, and pansexuality therefore rejects the gender binary, the "notion of two genders and indeed of specific sexual orientations", it is often considered a more inclusive term than bisexual. To what extent the term bisexual is inclusive when compared to the term pansexual is debated within the LGBTQ community, especially the bisexual community.

A literal dictionary definition of bisexuality, due to the prefix "bi," is sexual or romantic attraction to two sexes (males and females), or to two genders (men and women). Pansexuality, however, composed with the prefix "pan," is the sexual attraction to a person of any sex or gender. Using these definitions, pansexuality is defined differently by explicitly including people who are intersex or outside the gender binary.

Study: Straight People Might Be More Sexually Fluid Than They Think

LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

What Does Abrosexual Mean and How is it Different From Pansexuality?

The definition of pansexuality can encourage the belief that it is the only sexual identity that covers individuals who do not cleanly fit into the categories of male or man, or female or woman. However, bisexual-identified people and scholars may object to the notion that bisexuality means sexual attraction to only two genders, arguing that since bisexual is not simply about attraction to two sexes and encompasses gender as well, it can include attraction to more than two genders. Gender is considered more complex than the state of one's sex, as gender includes genetic, hormonal, environmental and social factors. Furthermore, the term bisexual is sometimes defined as the romantic or sexual attraction to multiple genders. The Bisexual Resource Center, for example, defines bisexuality as "an umbrella term for people who recognize and honor their potential for sexual and emotional attraction to more than one gender", while the American Institute of Bisexuality states that the term bisexual "is an open and inclusive term for many kinds of people with same-sex and different-sex attractions" and that "the scientific classification bisexual only addresses the physical, biological sex of the people involved, not the gender-presentation."

Scholar Shiri Eisner states that terms such as pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual, and queer are being used in place of the term bisexual because "bisexuality, it's been claimed, is a gender binary, and therefore oppressive, word" and that "the great debate is being perpetuated and developed by bisexual-identified transgender and genderqueer people on the one hand, and non-bi-identified transgender and genderqueer people on the other." Eisner argues that "the allegations of binarism have little to do with bisexuality's actual attributes or bisexual people's behavior in real life" and that the allegations are a political method to keep the bisexual and transgender movements separated, because of those who believe that bisexuality ignores or erases the visibility of transgender and genderqueer people.

Pansexual, Polysexual, Omnisexual, Ambisexual
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Pan, Poly, Omni, Ambi

The American Institute of Bisexuality argues that "terms like pansexual, polysexual, omnisexual, and ambisexual also describe a person with homosexual and heterosexual attractions, and therefore people with those labels are also bisexual" and that "by replacing the prefix "bi" (two, both) with "pan" (all), "poly" (many), "omni" (all), "ambi" (both, and implying ambiguity in this case), people who adopt these labels seek to clearly express the fact that gender does not factor into their own sexuality," but "this does not mean, however, that people who identify as bisexual are fixated on gender."

The institute believes that the notion that if a person identifies as bisexual, then it is a reinforcement of a false gender binary is a notion that "has its roots in the anti-science, anti-Enlightenment philosophy that has ironically found a home within many Queer Studies departments at universities across the Anglophone world" and that "while it is true that our society's language and terminology do not necessarily reflect the full spectrum of human gender diversity, that is hardly the fault of people who choose to identify as bi.

LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

What Does Abrosexual Mean and How is it Different From Pansexuality?

The Latin prefix "bi" does indeed indicate two or both, however the 'both' indicated in the word bisexual are merely homosexual (same sex) and heterosexual (different sex)." The institute argues that heterosexuality and homosexuality, by contrast, "are defined by the boundary of two sexes/genders. Given those fundamental facts, any criticism of bisexuality as reinforcing a gender binary is misplaced. Over time, our society's concept of human sex and gender may well change."

The term pansexuality is sometimes used interchangeably with bisexuality, and, similarly, people who identify as bisexual may "feel that gender, biological sex, and sexual orientation should not be a focal point in potential romantic/sexual relationships". In one study analyzing sexual identities described as alternative terms for bisexual or bi-self labels, "half of all bisexual and bisexual-identified respondents also chose alternative self-labels such as queer, pansexual, pansensual, polyfidelitous, ambisexual, polysexual, or personalized identities such as byke or biphilic." Polysexuality is similar to pansexuality in definition, meaning "encompassing more than one sexuality," but not necessarily encompassing all sexualities.

This is distinct from polyamory, which means more than one intimate relationship at the same time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. The term fluid may indicate that "a person's homosexual and heterosexual attractions exists in a state of flux and changes over time."

Pansexuality Explained
What is Pansexual?
Pansexual, Polysexual, Omnisexual, Ambisexual
What is Pansexuality: We Got Answers

Pansexuality: Everything You Need to Know
LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

Abrosexual

An abrosexual is an individual that has a fluid and/or rapidly changing sexuality that fluctuates between different sexualities. Abrosexual can be considered the "sexuality version of genderfluid." If you are abrosexual you possess the inner flexibility to change from one sexuality to another.

Every abro person's sexuality changes between different sexualities. For example, sometimes you will be straight, other times you will be bi, pan, gay, or ace. Also, each abro person's sexuality changes at different rates. One abro person may keep a single sexuality for a month or so, while another abro person's sexuality might change every few days. Some don't even notice when their sexuality changes.

It is important to understand is that an abro person is always abrosexual. Even if an abro person is straight at the time, they are still just as much a member of the LGBTQ community as any other.

What Does Abrosexual Mean and How is it Different From Pansexuality?
Pansexuality Explained
What is Pansexual?

What Does Abrosexual Mean?
Healthline: Pansexual and Bisexual

Pansexual, Polysexual, Omnisexual, Ambisexual
Past and Popular Usage of the Term "Pansexual"
Meaning and Definition of Pansexuality

LGBTQ Nation: Difference Between Bisexual and Pansexual

Study: Straight People Might Be More Sexually Fluid Than They Think