What does pansexual mean
What does pansexual mean
What does pansexual mean and how is it different to bisexuality?
In a tweet, Moran said: «2020 is a new decade and a new path in my journey. Last year I fell in love with a wonderful woman. Something I’d never even considered before. Now I am just happy #Pansexual #OutAndProud.»
Moran told Pink News that friends and family have been supportive but that some people have told her it could damage her career.
She continued: «I feel now is the time to talk about it, because as an MP I spend a lot of my time defending our community and talking about our community. I want people to know I am part of our community as well.»
Pansexuality is becoming more visible as celebrities like Miley Cyrus speak openly about their experiences, but for those not in the know the term can still be confusing.
Below, we take a look at what it means to be a pansexual and how it differs from bisexuality.
What does it mean to be pansexual?
Deriving from Greek, the prefix ‘pan’ simply means ‘all’ and to be pansexual means you can be attracted to someone regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
In fact, as a pansexual you ‘don’t see gender’, rather you are emotionally attracted to the person and not their physical form.
How does pansexuality differ from bisexuality?
While there are some similarities between pansexuality and bisexuality, the main and very distinct difference is that to be bisexual you are attracted to more than one gender, whereas pansexuals are blind to gender and attracted to a person no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.
For example, a bisexual can be attracted to multiple genders whether they are male, female, non-binary or trans while a pansexual disregards gender altogether.
Is pansexual the same as polyamorous and gender fluid?
To be gender fluid refers to your gender identity and means that you can identify with multiple genders at once or that the gender you identify with fluctuates regularly.
Which celebrities have identified as pansexual?
Notable figures who have recently identified as pansexual include Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie, who identified as pansexual in an interview with Paper magazine in July 2018.
Miley Cyrus, Bella Thorne, Héloïse Letissier and Amber Heard have also stated they identify as pansexual.
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Не гей, не «би», не гетеро Пансексуалы — представители новой сексуальной ориентации
Айленд Болдуин и Энджел Хейз. Фото: Kevork Djansezian / Reuters
Можно ли быть и не гетеросексуалом, и не геем, и не «би»? Сексологи считают, да, и вводят понятие пансексуальности — новой половой ориентации XXI века. Феномену уже посвятили материалы The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times. По данным Google Trends, запросы на тему pansexuality становятся все популярнее в поисковиках. Пансексуалы есть даже в Голливуде. Да кто же они? Эту статью мы включили в число лучших публикаций 2015 года. Другие лучшие материалы можно посмотреть пройдя по этой ссылке.
Слово найдено
Префикс pan- родом из греческого языка, и означает «все» или «каждый». Но идея пансексуальности, конечно, не просто в том, чтобы «любить все, что движется».
Пансексуал — это индивидуум, которого могут привлекать женщины, мужчины, трансгендеры, интерсексуалы (люди, не определившиеся с собственной половой принадлежностью). При этом речь не идет о половой «всеядности» и распущенности.
Пол при выборе партнера вообще не играет роли. Бисексуалов привлекают и мужчины, и женщины, а пансексуалы — «гендерно слепы» по отношению и к партнеру, и к собственной половой принадлежности.
Пансексуальность предполагает, что пару себе нужно искать исходя исключительно из личных качеств человека, общих идеалов и эмоций, получаемых от общения с ним.
Термин возник в середине 1990-х, но не пользовался популярностью. Пансексуальность как явление активно обсуждается с 2010 года. По мнению сексолога Никки Гольдштайн, причина в том, что современные молодые люди больше задумываются о своей сексуальности и вдумываются в ее нюансы гораздо внимательнее, чем предыдущие поколения.
Селебрити уже «в теме»
Пансексуалы зачастую не в состоянии описать свои ощущения и мысли о взаимоотношениях полов. Не беда — многое уже сформулировано не только сексологами, но и знаменитостями. В основном из поколения 20-летних и даже моложе, что подтверждает теорию Никки Гольдштайн.
Фото: Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Звезда фильма «Дивергент» 23-летняя Шейлин Вудли — яркий пример пансексуальности. Однако не все ее поклонники сразу поняли такую тонкость: когда в 2014 году актриса заявила, что «влюбляется в людей из-за того, какие они, а не из-за их пола», многие грешным делом подумали, что девушка совершила каминг-аут, признавшись в бисексуальности. Ей пришлось позже подробнее разъяснить свою позицию.
Сыгравший в «Голодных играх» 22-летний Джош Хатчерсон признался в интервью журналу Out Magazine: «Прямо сейчас я на 100 процентов гетеросексуален. Но как знать? Может, через год я встречу парня и пойму, что он мне нравится».
Фото: Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
Рэп-исполнительница Энджел Хейз, встречавшаяся с моделью Айленд Болдуин (дочерью актеров Алека Болдуина и Ким Бейсингер), также высказывает похожие мысли:
«Любовь не имеет границ. Если кто-то может заставить меня чувствовать, смеяться… Значит, я могу быть с ним. Мне все равно, даже если это будет гермафродит».
Удобное понятие?
А не выступает ли часом пансексуальность удобной отмазкой для тех, кто просто не хочет прямо и честно объявить, что предпочитает в сексуальном плане представителей своего пола?
Известно, что быть представителем гомосексуальной ориентации сложно, даже если ты — голливудский небожитель. Порицать никто не будет, но и, например, главной роли в романтической мелодраме не предложат. Разве может гей быть лирическим героем и объектом женских желаний? Именно по этой причине, по слухам, не получил главную роль в «50 оттенках серого» придерживающийся гомосексуальных предпочтений актер Мэтт Бомер.
Фото: Todd Williamson / Invision / AP
Пансексуальность, конечно, необычайно удобна: не гей, не натурал, просто современный человек широких взглядов. Не нужно каминг-аутов, но не нужно и лжи.
Клуб по интересам
Простые смертные также чувствуют, что им близка новая сексуальная ориентация. В исследовании, опубликованном недавно в The New York Times, утверждается, что все больше молодых людей в мире идентифицируют себя как «в основном гетеросексуалы».
Судя по количеству тематических сообществ в Сети, пансексуальность — отнюдь не удел звезд. Например, девиз «клуба по интересам» Pan Pride — «Пол — это не гениталии».
В Twitter есть группа Pansexuality FTW и даже аккаунт Pansbians для «пансбиянок».
«Сообщества о пансексуальности позволили мне больше понять мои отношения с моей подругой, которая ранее была мужчиной», — говорит 24-летняя Кристен Ритчи, одна из подписчиц последнего тематического аккаунта.
…Возможно, лучше всего сложные ощущения пансексуалов выражают слова Энджел Хейз, которая видит свой идеал отношений примерно так: «Я не гомо, не би, не гетеро. Меня это все вообще не волнует. В конце дня я просто хочу быть рядом с кем-то, кто на одной волне со мной».
Rolling Stone
What seem to be straightforward labels for sexual preference are anything but – and they even confuse many in the LGBTQ community
Zachary Zane
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People of all sexualities are welcomed at Pride, but there’s been a recent blowback against the term «bisexual.»
Xinhua/Li Muzi via Getty Images
When queer activist and Younger star Nico Tortorella is asked how he identified, he takes a big breath before replying, “Well that’s a loaded question.”
“In the [queer] movement right now, we have a tendency of getting hung on specific words rather than the person,” the 29-year-old actor tells Rolling Stone. “And in my fluidity, I’m really attracted to this idea that it doesn’t have to be one thing.”
Bisexuality, pansexuality, sexually fluid, queer and simply “not doing labels” – all are different ways people identify to indicate that they are not exclusively attracted to either men or women. The truth is, however, there’s confusion even among members of the LGBTQ community as to what these words mean, particularly when it comes to bisexuality. In fact, the bisexual community doesn’t even agree on what it means to be bisexual. The term pansexual was birthed out of the confusion, and to create a definitive and more inclusive label. This has led to in-fighting between members of the community, who are upset that their bisexual identity is being replaced by another label.
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The meaning of pansexual is clear: someone who is attracted – either emotionally, physically or both – to all genders. This includes cisgender, transgender, agender and gender nonconforming individuals. The prefix was chosen because it comes from the Greek root “pan,” meaning “all.” But that’s obviously not the case. Two months ago, when Janelle Monáe came out as queer and pansexual in a Rolling Stone cover story, searches for the word pansexual on Merriam Webster rose 11,000 percent, and the term became the most looked up word of the day.
The prefix “bi,” as we’re all aware, means two. Because of this, many folks, perhaps even the majority of people, believe that a bisexual person is attracted to only two genders: cisgender men and cisgender women. Members of the queer community who believe this to be the definition of bisexual, believe that bisexuality perpetuates a gender binary. They don’t believe it’s inclusive of transgender people and gender nonconforming people.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Given that “bi” means two, that’s a reasonable belief.
In this definition, the “bi” stands for two (or more) genders. Gabrielle Blonder, a board member of the Bisexual Resource Center, a nonprofit whose mission is “providing support to the bisexual community and raising public awareness about bisexuality and bisexual people,” explains, “I use it to mean ‘attracted to genders like mine and genders different from mine.’”
The majority of pansexual individuals don’t believe either of these definitions – and that’s precisely why they prefer the term pansexual.
When the word “bisexual” became popularized, starting with David Bowie when he claimed bisexuality in a Playboy interview in 1976, we didn’t have a nuanced understanding of gender like we do today. Now that we do have a better understanding, some bisexual people have updated the definition of bisexual to be inclusive of all genders, whereas others have favored abandoning it, for a new word, that frankly is less confusing, given that pan does indeed mean “all.”
Some pansexual folks even go a step further. “There’s the argument to be had that people use all the time, that bi is exclusionary. It feeds into the binary of gender,” says Tortella. “And I know that for me personally, that’s not the case. A lot of people say that bi is trans-exclusionary, but trans is not a gender itself, it’s a descriptor word for how people express their gender.”
This is partly why people don’t like identifying with any sexual or gender identity label. Simply put, it’s confusing, and for many, the labels feels limiting. Also, inherent in your sexuality is an understanding of your own gender. If you’re not completely sure if you identify as male or female, then how can you accurately state your own sexuality?
This contributes to the growing popularity of the reclaimed word, “queer.”
“I use the term queer because I’m not sure of the specifics of my gender identity,” says Jill B., a 23 year-old artist. “So ‘queer’ feels like a good umbrella placeholder while I grow and learn and figure out all the details.”
People also have no qualms claiming multiple sexual identity labels. “Early on in my coming out, bisexual just fit … and queer felt disconnected from who I was, a bit academic and drudged in hate,” says Ryan Carey-Mahoney, 26, a LGBTQ activist. “Then, as I grew into myself a bit more, I found queer to be none of those things. It was inclusive of many identities – bisexuality and others – and brought people together. It was uniting in a way that just saying ‘gay’ when describing the community can feel dividing.”
Now, Carey-Mahoney identifies with both labels. “They both, now, fit me like a glove, and trust me, honey, I’m wearing them proudly.”
Interestingly, when Tortorella does wish to identify with sexual labels – as opposed to simply human – he actively changes his label depending on who he’s speaking to and what their intention is.
“If I’m talking to somebody who’s more conservative and doesn’t believe in a nonbinary gender, then it’s easier to use the word bisexual, but if I’m talking to someone who’s invested in gender, queer theory, and understands the spectrum, then I’m more comfortable using the word ‘pansexual’ or the word ‘fluid.’”
Fluid, in this case, meaning that sexual attractions have the capacity to change over time and can be dependent on different situations.
Tortella does note, however, that there is a rich history to the word bisexual, and it would be nice to honor it.
“The B existed far longer than the P ever did in the acronym, and there’s something to be said about that,” he says. “There’s something to be said about standing up for the mothers and fathers of the community who fought for [our rights to embrace a queer identity].”
Tortella’s not alone in his reasoning. “I personally like the historical aspect of it,” says BRC’s Blonder. “It’s the label we’ve fought for recognition under for decades, and it’s the most widely-known label. Language isn’t a static entity, and words can change meaning over time. Much like October is no longer the eighth month of the year, I believe the term bisexual has morphed into a different meaning than it originally was.”
For others, it’s less about history and more about the arduous, personal journey it took to finally claim a sexual label, only to then be told that their label is wrong, obsolete, or transphobic – and by members of the same community who are supposed to be embracing them no less.
“I’m proud to be bisexual” says Daniel Saynt, founder of NSFW, a private club offering educational experiences in relationships, kink and intimacy. “It took me 30 years to get to that point and it sucks that now that I’m comfortable in my sexuality, I’m told I’m not accepting enough cause I don’t consider myself pansexual. Pansexuals shouldn’t be attacking bisexuals just cause there’s a new term that’s more inclusive. We don’t attack gays for not being attracted to women and we shouldn’t attack a bisexual [person] just because they may not find a trans person attractive.”
Saynt is one of the people for whom bisexuality does indeed mean exclusively attracted to cisgender men and women. He embodies what many bisexual activists and individuals are fighting against.
“I’ve definitely met attractive trans and non-conforming individuals, but the feelings I have [for them have] never been sexual in nature,” Saynt continues. “It’s more of an appreciation for who they are, what they represent, and just a desire for them to find happiness regardless of identity.”
The question then becomes, is it transphobic to not be attracted to transgender and gender non-conforming individuals? If so, then are members of the LGBTQ community clinging to a label that’s potentially harmful to other members of the LGBTQ community?
“For some time, I felt compelled to cling to the bisexual label in a pseudo-noble effort to protect the identity from a perceived diaspora of individuals turning to the term pansexual,” Jill B. says. “At first, it felt important to continue defending bisexuality, as I had always done when members of the straight or gay communities attempted to invalidate or exclude it. [I felt] like a captain going down with his ship. Over time, this came to be less important than accurately portraying the full spectrum of my sexuality.”
Nevertheless, everyone I spoke to said that there is room in the larger bi and pansexual communities for multiple labels to exist.
“I think there’s room for all of. We’re all here. And it’s our right to claim whichever label we want.” Tortorella said.
Bisexuality, to many, is also seen as an umbrella term, inclusive of sexually fluid labels like pansexual. There’s even been a push in the bisexual community to use the term bi+ to really emphasize that bisexuality is the larger encompassing term.
Jill B., even though they abandoned the bi label, still believes there is room in the queer community for the diversity of sexually fluid labels. “I’m hopeful that the spark in conversation regarding sexual fluidity will generally increase visibility for those who neither fully identify as straight or gay.”
Still, they’re not convinced if having all these labels will be beneficial to the community in the long run. As Jill B. notes, “I am not sure whether an increase in labels will prove to be unifying or divisive for us.”
What Does ‘Pansexual’ Mean? Behind the Rise of the Word
I n early January, British lawmaker Layla Moran announced on Twitter that she had fallen in love with a woman. “Something I’d never even considered before,” she wrote. “Now I am just happy #Pansexual #OutAndProud.”
Some people responded to Moran’s coming out with congratulations. Others mocked her. And a few had questions, including “What’s pansexual?”
There is never a single, definitive answer to a question about a term that has highly individualized meaning, but as the word pansexual has become increasingly popular, themes have emerged.
In an interview, Moran said that, to her, pansexuality meant falling in love without consideration of the person’s physical attributes or gender identity. LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD defines being pansexual as having the capacity to be attracted to people “of any or all genders.”
In a past interview with TIME, one person described being pansexual by saying, “I can potentially fall in love with anybody who is cool.”
What’s the difference between being pansexual and bisexual? To some, pansexual feels more expansive. There are hundreds of terms now in use to describe where people have found themselves on the spectra of gender and sexuality; the word suggests a lack of limitations, whether the potential partner considers themselves to be female or male, nonbinary or agender or anything else.
Adopting the label can also feel like a way to reject the idea that one’s romantic and sexual inclinations must be determined by gender in the first place. When explaining to TIME in a past interview why she viewed herself as pansexual, the singer Miley Cyrus said, “I just never would want to miss out on an opportunity to share love and to share time with somebody because of their gender. It just means nothing to me.”
GLAAD’s Megan Townsend, who helps advise media outlets on how to cover the bisexual community, says that the term bisexual can be just as inclusive, and that the prefix bi- is misleading. She describes pansexuality as living under the “bisexual umbrella” and distinguishes the labels, in part, by how much gender tends to matter to the individual. A bisexual person is attracted to people of their gender and at least one other gender, she says. Pansexual, meanwhile, suggests “gender is not even really a thought.”
The word pansexual isn’t new: It’s been in use since at least 1969, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. But it is increasingly easier to find in mass media, research and high-school-hallway conversations. In publications monitored by OED researchers, the word pansexual cropped up 13% more in 2019 than 2018.
Part of that is celebrity and entertainment chatter. Along with Cyrus, the performer Janelle Monáe has embraced the term, as has the actor Bella Thorne, who said it means, “You like what you like.” A lead character in comedy Schitt’s Creek is openly pansexual, along with at least three other characters in three other TV shows. Discussions of pansexuality — and discussions of those discussions — have arisen in reference to the Star Wars universe (See: Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian) and superhero franchises (See: Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool).
But the visibility of the word is also thanks to rank-and-file youth taking it up. After LGBTQ students continued to describe their sexual orientation as pansexual in surveys conducted by youth advocacy organization GLSEN, researchers added it as its own category, alongside terms like gay and lesbian. In a recent report, from 2017, 20.5% of the more than 20,000 LGBTQ middle and high school students surveyed by the organization identified as pansexual. That number was up from 16.9% in 2015.
While some social conservatives have dismissed identities like pansexual as “foolishness” or posturing “in a time when the entertainment industry says it’s cool to question your gender identity,” many academics say that there is more natural variance in people’s feelings and experiences than is captured by a choice between this or that.
In 2017, one survey found that 12% of millennials identify as something other than cisgender and 16% identify as something other than strictly heterosexual. It makes sense that they’d be attracted to a word like pansexual to describe what that “something other” is at a time when there’s consternation over how many and which identities are valid in society.
Pan-, a prefix that means “relating to the whole of the universe” comes from Greek. “Latin and Greek have long served as languages of medical and legal authority in English,” explains OED’s Jeffrey Sherwood, “so a bid for authority about one’s gender or sexual identity would do well to couch itself in such a register.”
GLSEN researcher Caitlin Clark says that, at least in youth populations, it’s fair to describe the label as becoming mainstream. “It is taking longer for older folks to come to an understanding of pansexual as a valid and legitimate identity,” she says. “Youth are leading the way on this, as they are doing in many different contexts.”
10 глупых вопросов пансексуалке о жизни
Эксперт: Катя Нафикова
студентка, бариста, пансексуалка.
Кто такие пансексуалы? Это что-то про панков?
Пансексуальность — это вид сексуальной ориентации, подразумевающий влечение к персонам независимо от их гендера (или ко всем гендерам — «пан» означает «все»). Ничего общего с панками, хотя думаю, влечение к панкам можно назвать панКсексуальностью (уверена, такое есть).
А чем они отличаются от бисексуалов?
По сути, пансексуальность можно назвать частью бисексуальности, которая заключается во влечении к более чем одному гендеру — то есть к двум и более.
Разве гендеров больше, чем два?
Да, спектр гендеров достаточно широкий — мне кажется, очень важно, чтобы все, кто хочет определить свою идентичность, могли найти себя в нем. При этом, например, мне было бы проще существовать вне гендеров — чтобы это не играло такой значительной роли в обществе. Возможно, поэтому мне так близка именно пансексуальность.
Пансексуалы правда влюбляются во всех подряд?
Конечно нет, но мемы про это нахожу очень смешными, потому что сама часто «западаю» на кого-то. Для пансексуалов просто не важен гендер для возникновения симпатии/влечения.
Как понять, что ты — пан?
Сделать ресерч, почитать истории других в Сети, почувствовать, что это «твое». Именно так я и пришла к осознаю своей пансексуальности.
Можно ли утверждать, что тебя привлекают трансгендерные или небинарные персоны, если ты никогда в них не влюблялась?
Конечно, если ты чувствуешь, что это так. Тем более если сейчас ты скажешь кому-то, что ты пан, а потом поймешь, что нет — это абсолютно ок. Потому что ориентация — это исключительно самоощущение каждого. И самоощущение может меняться со временем.
Пансексуальность — это полноценная ориентация или попытка разобраться со своей сексуальностью?
Самая настоящая полноценная ориентация. Но для каждого это свое — для кого-то этап в самоопределении, но далеко не для всех.
А что говорят родители?
Не то чтобы я делала каминг-аут, да и мы это особо не обсуждали, но я точно знаю, что для моей мамы главное — чтобы я была счастлива.
Если ты пан, то легче найти отношения?
Лично мне — да, но ведь это не зависит от ориентации. Могу лишь сказать, что выбор больше за счет отсутствия ограничений из серии «мне имеют право нравиться только парни/девушки». Просто не думаешь об этом и общаешься с теми, кто тебе симпатичен — в свое удовольствие.
На кого подписаться из пансексуалов?
На меня, конечно же! А если честно, то сложно вспомнить кого-либо, сразу на ум приходят только Брендон Ури и Майли Сайрус.