As a biromantic asexual woman, I refer to myself as bi or pan interchangeably.
When I looked at the definitions and using my background knowledge, it appears that both sexualities love regardless of gender.
While bisexual people like men and women, I also heard that very few of them won’t date other genders. Some bi people will only date cis men and women, others only men and women in general, and some will date nonbinary people and not care.
So anyway, don’t both sexualities love regardless of gender and find everyone attractive?
I think most people use them interchangably, I call myself bi due to it being a more well-known term and the flag being prettier
The flag is the biggest reason I tend to use Bi more than Pan.
Echoing other lemmings, there’s basically no difference. There js a certain niche who seem to think that pansexual is more trans inclusive, but that attitude doesn’t align with almost all bisexuals opinions on the matter, or with the history of how the bisexual community has been accepting and collaborating with the trans community since pretty much the birth of both communities.
The delightful verilybitchie, who is both bisexual and trans, has a bunch of good video on the history of bisexuality, trans stuff, and biphobia*. They are defintely worth watching!
/* it’s pretty hard to hear ‘bisexuals exclude trans people’ and not feel like that’s an example of biphobia.
In practical terms, the biggest difference is the flag.
My sister used to identify as bisexual. Now she identifies as pansexual. Why? She says she feels it more encompasses trans inclusion, as well.
Really, not much, but there are some ideological ones sometimes. It’s a label based on personal identification. Some people say that only pansexuals are trans-inclusive when that’s not the case.
In some bisexual communities, bisexuality is defined as loving 2 or more genders. Not necessarily (but usually) men and women. Additionally, some bisexual people will date multiple genders, but not all of them (maybe they have specific preferences, whatever).
Being trans myself, I find it off-putting when pansexuals describe their sexuality as “I love men, women, and trans people” because that’s incredibly othering (to me as a binary trans person), but it seems like people say it less now than they did in 2012 when I was a baby tran. It’s weird to separate us entirely rather than viewing us as just another “type” of man or woman.
For a NB person that doesn’t apply since they’re neither a man nor a woman, but I can’t speak to how NB people feel about that phrase.
This is so far over my head - i don’t understand it. I know my comment will likely be taken as offensive or condescending, but it’s really not the intent. I am so confused by sexuality/gender discussions. I don’t understand having a label that’s inclusive or exclusive of who someone will or won’t date. Doesn’t that change based on the people you meet? If you label one way, you meet someone you find attractive, you have chemistry, and then you find that they have parts that don’t fit your label, what do you do? I guess it’s part of dating - to weed out what you’re usually not attracted to? I partnered/married young, so that aspect of dating wasn’t openly discussed in the same way- we didn’t have the common words to describe like we have today. Also, being hetero and having mostly hetero friends, i guess we didn’t spend time thinking about how our relationships were similar or different from each others. I definitely understand putting descriptions of any kind of love out there so young people know they’re not alone, but beyond that I’m lost.
There’s a lot I don’t really like about pansexuality, which is why I don’t use the label. In my head, a transwoman is a woman, and a transman is a man, so I don’t see any difference in my love for them than my love for a cis woman or a cis man. Non-binaries fit outside that spectrum, for sure, but they’re still people with masculine and/or feminine traits, and I don’t understand why there needs to be an extra label just to include them. Shouldn’t they be included always? I guess the biggest thing that would be excluded would be people who don’t show either masculine or feminine traits. I’ve never met or seen one, so I guess I don’t know if I can be attracted to one, or if the distinction even exists.
I understand that other bisexuals may have different tastes in their partners, but we don’t have different labels for each level of masculine/feminine attraction. The bisexual who prefers femme men and women is considered just as bisexual as the one who prefers masc men and women, or the one who likes both traits equally. I just don’t understand why there’s an implicit exclusion of trans people from that attraction, such that we need a new label to add explicit inclusion.
I refer to myself as pan for two reasons. First, I believe that gender is a spectrum and there’s more than two of them. Two, to me bisexual implies equal attraction to both the masculine and feminine, and I’m less attracted to the masculine than I am to the feminine end of the scale.
Really, pansexual is being attracted to the the person, regardless of their gender identity.
First, I believe that gender is a spectrum and there’s more than two of them.
Does the word “bilingual” imply there are only two languages?
Really, pansexual is being attracted to the the person, regardless of their gender identity.
That’s also what bisexuality is about.
Ok. I didn’t argue against any of what you said, just gave my reasons for using the label that I do. I have met trans/NB exclusionary bisexuals, and that turned me off to using that label for myself. If other people use bisexual to describe themselves and mean it to encompass attraction all possible gender identities then that’s great!
There are also transphobic heterosexuals, asexuals, and gay people. Bigots sharing our orientation isn’t a reason to cede it to them.
