For a long time, when it came to dating, people identified as gay, straight or bi. Today, if you're a mid-20s dater, you're might come across someone who identifies as pan. Pan refers to pansexuality, which is a buzzword in the world of sexual terminology lately. Here, we go into what pansexuality is and why so many people now identify as such.
Pansexuality Pansexuality, also called omnisexuality, is sexual attraction, romantic love or emotional attraction toward people of any sex or gender identity. Some pansexuals refer to themselves as “gender blind” stating that sex or gender plays no role in their attraction to someone.
Bisexual Debate There has been some debate over pansexuality in the past, with some claiming that it is merely a form of bisexuality. Pansexuals argue that this is inaccurate, as bisexuals are merely attracted to both men and women whereas pansexuals are simply attracted to people and don’t really even consider gender in the equation.
Gender Binary One thing that pansexuals believe separates them from bisexuals is that they reject the gender binary. In other words, the idea of their being simply men or women is a notion they reject. The movement towards eliminating the idea of two separate and opposing genders.
Other Classifications Other classifications that disrupt the gender binary include agender (genderless), androgyne (having characteristics of both genders), bigender (one who moves between the genders), cisgender (someone whose gender agrees with the sex they were assigned) or gender queer (those who don’t consider themselves classically masculine or feminine ), as well as trans men and women. The term third gender describes those who are neither man nor woman.
Miley Mania The word was not particularly well known to the mainstream until last August. In an interview with Elle UK, Miley Cyrus came out as pansexual, and soon after, the word started trending. Cyrus isn’t the only famous person to recently come out as pansexual. Deadpool is commonly considered the first pansexual superhero, though this is more apparent in the comic book than the recent film by the same name.
The Flag While considered part of the LGBTQ community, pansexuals have their own “Pansexual Pride Flag,” It has three colored horizontal bars of pink, yellow and blue. The blue represents those who identify within the male spectrum (regardless of biological sex), the pink represents those who identify within the female spectrum (regardless of biological sex), and the yellow portion represents non-binary attraction — such as androgynous, agender, bigender, genderfluid, transgender and intersex people.
The Word The word "pansexual" was actually invented by Sigmund Freud and meant something completely different. Freud introduced the term in 1917 to describe the way sexuality pervades all aspects of human experience.
Pan Now “Pan-“ is a Greek prefix referring to “all” or “every” coming together as one. For instance, Pangea describes when all of Earth was one continent, or a pandemic is a disease that affects the whole world.
The God Pan also refers to the greek god Pan, the god of the wild. Pan had a human upper body but his lower half was that of a goat. He would travel around the mountains playing the flute accompanied by nymphs (the root of nymphomania). Pan is said to be the god responsible for spreading masturbation to the masses, having learned from his father, the god Hermes.
Trend According to Google Trends, the popularity of the word initially rose in 2007. It eventually became synonymous with genderqueer. Mary Gonzalez, a Texas state representative, openly identifies as pansexual.
Pansexuals On Being Pan The website Pansexuality is Perfect defines pansexuality as a person who is “not limited or inhibited in sexual choice with regards to gender or activity.” Other individuals describe their identity by saying that “they just don’t focus on gender or sex identity, but focus more on the person instead."
Pan And Poly For many pansexuals, the idea of monogamy is also outdated and therefore they tend to lean toward polyamory. "I’m very open about it – I’m pansexual. But I’m not in a relationship. I’m 22, I’m going on dates, but I change my style every two weeks, let alone who I’m with," Cyrus explained in a tweet.
Sex Positive While many pansexuals consider themselves sex-positive, there’s a conception that being pansexual means being promiscuous. This is not necessarily the case. As one pansexual puts it, “Just because I’ll be with anyone, doesn’t mean I’ll be with anyone."
Attraction Someone who is pansexual might be attracted to cis men, intersex men, trans men, agender people, genderqueer people or any other non-binary person, trans women, intersex women, cis women, or any other combination of sex, or gender. However, most pansexuals would simply state that these distinctions are irrelevant to their attraction.
Equipment The author of Pansexuality Is Perfect explains her sexual preference like this, "The toolkit just doesn’t matter. It isn’t relevant. For myself, I’ve never really felt attracted to body parts. As in I was never saying: WOW this is an attractive foot/arm/boob/penis/vagina. Now I must simply have sex with this person. I can enjoy physical beauty, but it hasn’t lead me to want to be intimate with them. The personality, soul, everything in that direction is more important to me than, let’s say, the perfect buttocks. And once I realize how awesome someone is, regardless of what they have as intimate bits, then I probably want to be with them/make love/sing songs to them. "
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