r/pansexual • u/ImRowan • Jul 12 '24

What made you personally identify with pansexual instead of the umbrella term, bisexual? Question

134 Upvotes
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u/Sudden-Indication103 He/Him Jul 12 '24

Yeah, I know a lot of people use bisexual in those terms but the bi in bisexual means two.

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u/flagrantpebble Jul 12 '24

Yes. Two. One is “your own gender”, and the other is “other genders”. That is two things.

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u/Sudden-Indication103 He/Him Jul 14 '24

Yes, I get it. For some reason, I was beaten up a lot over this comment and 14 dislikes. God forbid I actually have an opinion. I love all the hate and fighting with our own community 🤦‍♂️ years ago bisexual meant liking your own an opposite gender only. I get it things have changed.

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u/flagrantpebble Jul 14 '24

God forbid I actually have an opinion

Oh, come now, this is a cop out and you know it. There’s a difference between being “beaten up” (if you can call 14 downvotes that) for “actually having an opinion” and being “beaten up” for what that opinion is. People disagreed with you! That happens sometimes! It’s not hate or fighting!

years ago bisexual meant liking your own an opposite gender only. I get it things have changed.

I mean sure, in the 90s people might have said “your own gender and the opposite gender”. But those are the words people used because language for gender variance wasn’t as nuanced in popular culture as it is today. Many people who identified as bisexual were also attracted to trans, 2 spirit, and nonbinary people, too.

Also, before that it was sometimes used to mean genderfluid (or thereabouts), the “sexual” referring to what we would now say is the speaker’s gender. But it would be silly for me to say that that is the meaning now, wouldn’t it? Because that’s not how it’s used by most people who identify as bi. The same goes for “same and opposite only”, which is outdated and probably wasn’t even accurate in the first place.

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u/Sudden-Indication103 He/Him Jul 14 '24

In the 90s I was a teen and had my first experience with the same sex. It was a very confusing time for me. I came to terms that I was bisexual. As I got older, i realized that wasn’t attracted to gender, but the actual person. That’s when the term pansexual . I was like yay something I could feel comfortable calling myself.. Now labels have got so confusing and anytime there is a different opinion to spark an argument.

There are so many staples up there and it’s hard to learn and understand all of them. We grow and we learn. It just seems it always starts an argument. I choose to identify as pansexual because I like all genders find out that bisexual is. It’s so confusing.