If it strikes a chord when you hear someone describe being attracted to “hearts, not parts” or “a variety of genders,” pansexuality might be an apt label for you. The biggest factor is what resonates with you and feels authentic. That’s part of why raising awareness about pansexuality (and all sexualities that can be steeped in stigma and misperception) is so important. It should go without saying that none of this is true, but these myths unfortunately do persist. Some people even mistakenly assume that pansexual folks are attracted to literally everyone. There are stereotypes that bi and pan people are incapable of monogamy or are vectors for sexually transmitted infections. There are those who say these orientations aren’t “real,” or are solely transitional phases before coming out as gay.
Many of the stereotypes about pansexuality are the same ones that plague bisexuals (and lead many people to feel like they’re not “allowed” to identify as bisexual). “The idea that gender is binary really comes from cisgender heterosexual cultures,” they say. Beach, who is on the leadership council of the Visibility Impact Fund, an advocacy organization for Bi+ people, says that the misconceptions about bisexual attractions excluding trans people don’t come from bisexual communities. But to say there is a stark distinction, a line that can never be crossed, I would call false.”ĭr. Bi people tend to be described as being attracted to two or more genders versus all genders. “For some bisexual people, gender may be a factor in their attractions. “Community definitions should be expansive of the many different ways individuals use identity labels,” they tell SELF. Lauren Beach, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University, says it’s a common error to think of the two as mutually exclusive.
How is pansexuality different from bisexuality? The two identities are not interchangeable, but they are very similar in a few key ways. Pansexual vs bisexual: What are the differences? They will find not only a variety of different terms and definitions, but “they also tend to realize that there are others who share their experience, and they may even find a community online,” he says. Feinstein, who is a gay man, says that it’s common for young people to search online for what it means if they are attracted to people of more than one gender. “A lot of people, especially young people, know they’re attracted to people of more than one gender-or all genders or regardless of gender identity-but initially they don't have language for what they’re experiencing.”ĭr.
“The pansexual community is diverse and people of all backgrounds can and do identify as pansexual,” Brian Feinstein, Ph.D., licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, tells SELF. Those in the survey who were pansexual were also predominantly young and more likely to be non-binary as well. And in a study of 2,220 non-heterosexual Australians published in 2017 in the Journal of Sex Research, 6.6% of participants identified as pansexual, compared with 7.6% who identified as queer, 18.6% who identified as bisexual, and 65.7% who identified as gay or lesbian. Comparatively, 34% of those teens identified as bisexual. A 2017 Human Rights Campaign survey in partnership with the University of Connecticut found that, out of over 12,000 LGBTQ+ 13-to-17 year-olds, 14% used the label pansexual to describe themselves. adults surveyed, 2% of 18-to-34-year-olds identified as pansexual. For instance, a 2017 Harris Poll commissioned by LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD found that, of the 2,037 U.S. Depending on the piece of research you look at-and the group of participants at the center of the data-estimates of how many people are pansexual can really vary.