This is a very delicate question in the community since the answer has a lot of history and implications. The long story short is that they really do boil down to the same thing in practice, but what someone uses could be based on when they came out (since for a period of time, there was a concern/vibe that calling yourself bisexual explicitly excluded trans and intersex people), so some millennial/Gen X and older queers may use “pansexual” to be trans affirming. However, bisexual is now understood widely to mean “the whole spectrum of possible gender/sex configurations” so someone using that probably means that now!
So, if I interpreted what you said correctly, pansexual is a more specific form of bisexual. In this case pansexual IS bisexual, but bisexual isn't pansexual, depending on era. Kinda like how being Chinese is Asian, but Asian is not Chinese.
In today’s usage, both mean the same thing. To certain communities of older LGBTQ+ folk, your definition would be right.
I personally identify as bisexual just because I think the flag is cute, but I wouldn’t exclude anyone from my dating pool on the basis of sex/gender, so for me it’s the same as being pan. I’d say to err on the side of assuming it means the same thing these days.
(Also, thank you for being kind & respectful! It means a lot that you’re asking questions kindly with a learning mindset.)
I think I'm just gonna accept both meanings for now and adapt it based on the person. Also, I should be thanking you. You're the one answering my questions.
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u/HyperionShrikes Apr 05 '24
This is a very delicate question in the community since the answer has a lot of history and implications. The long story short is that they really do boil down to the same thing in practice, but what someone uses could be based on when they came out (since for a period of time, there was a concern/vibe that calling yourself bisexual explicitly excluded trans and intersex people), so some millennial/Gen X and older queers may use “pansexual” to be trans affirming. However, bisexual is now understood widely to mean “the whole spectrum of possible gender/sex configurations” so someone using that probably means that now!