What Is Pansexuality?
What does it mean to be pansexual? Pansexuality is one of the lesser-known sexual identities. Someone who is pansexual feels attraction towards people regardless of sexual or gender identity.
How can someone tell if they are pansexual? Here are some signs:
- Pansexuals do not consider gender to be a major factor in a relationship.
- They can be attracted to a person who is transgender, cisgender, intersex, gender-neutral, etc.
- Someone who is pansexual also feels attraction regardless of sexual identity as well, so they might feel attracted to someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, omnisexual, asexual, etc.
People who are pansexual recognize others’ sexual/gender identities and are open to having relationships with people despite their identity. Pansexuals often feel attraction for who people are. For a pansexual, a person’s personality holds much more weight in a relationship.
What is the Difference Between Bisexuality and Pansexuality?
People often confuse bisexuality and pansexuality or think they are the same thing. The truth is that they are two different identities. So how is being pansexual different from being bisexual? Below, we’ll go over some of the differences between bisexuality and pansexuality:
- Bisexuality implies there are two genders, whereas pansexuality implies there are more than two genders.
- Bisexuals feel attraction towards men and women, while pansexuals can feel attracted to someone of any gender.
- Bisexuality is well-known. However, there is not as much awareness as pansexuality.
- Someone who is bisexual is attracted to men and women. A pansexual can be attracted to someone who is transgender, cisgender, intersex, etc.
There are some similarities between bisexuality and pansexuality. Someone who is bisexual can feel attraction to the same genders as someone who is pansexual. Because there is less awareness of pansexuality, people who are pansexual often identify as bisexual first. However, after learning about pansexuality, they decide that they identify more closely with that label. However, being similar does not mean that they are the same and it is important to recognize people who identify as pansexual separately.
OmniSexual vs. Pansexual
What is the difference between omnisexual and pansexual? Omnisexual, like pansexual, is a relatively new label. Omnisexuality and pansexuality are often confused with each other. Both omnisexuals and pansexuals can be attracted to people of all genders. However, gender does not affect whether or not a pansexual will begin a relationship with someone. To a pansexual, another person’s gender does not affect their ability to love someone. Omnisexuals do care about gender identity. However, they will still date someone of any gender. A good way to explain it is that pansexuals care about who someone is on the inside, not who they identify as. Omnisexuals will care about how someone identifies, but they may choose to have a relationship with them anyways.
Do Pansexuals Have Relationships?
Someone who is pansexual has the ability to be in a relationship and fall in love with many different types of people. There are some people out there who assume that pansexuals do not participate in relationships. However, this is not true; pansexuals can have healthy, happy relationships just like anyone who is straight, or bisexual or gay. Also, while they have the capacity to have a relationship with someone, that does not mean they will want to. Just because someone is pansexual does not mean they will be attracted to everyone. A pansexual tends to be attracted to someone based on their personality. What is important to them is who the person is. Pansexuals are perfectly capable of having happy monogamous relationships.
Summary
Pansexuality is a lesser-known sexual identity. Because there is not as much awareness for pansexuality as other gender identities, there are many misconceptions about people who are pansexual. For example, many think pansexuals are “gender-blind” or dismiss other people’s gender identities. Pansexuals will recognize someone’s gender identity, but that does not affect their desire for a relationship with that person. Another misconception is that pansexuals do not have relationships. The truth is, someone who is pansexual is just as likely to be in a happy, healthy, monogamous relationship as someone of any other sexual identity.
Pansexuality is often confused with bisexuality. Being pansexual means you have romantic, emotional, or sexual attractions to people no matter their gender or sexual identity. People who are pansexual are attracted to others based on who they are, not what they identify as. Pansexuality is not the same as bisexuality. A bisexual is someone who is attracted to either gender, whereas a pansexual can be attracted to someone of any gender. Pansexuality can also be confused for omnisexuality, which is the attraction to people of all genders. Unlike pansexuals, omnisexuals do care about others’ gender identity, but they feel attraction towards people of all genders.