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[+] 66 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (62 children)
  • [–] 38 points 2 months ago (33 children)

    Doesn't the name imply only two?

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  • [–] 68 points 2 months ago (13 children)

    No it implies once every other week

    Wait

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  • [–] 19 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    Well then what's semisexual?? I'll never get this figured out

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  • [–] 21 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    that means you like large trucks for hauling commercial goods

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    Ahhh, so pansexual means that you like half man, half goat people who play the flute? Or is it that you get an erection at the thought of buying new kitchen ware?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)
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  • [–] 49 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Sure but it can be interpreted as "people who share my gender" and "people who do not share my gender."

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  • [–] 19 points 2 months ago*

    This is off-topic, but... For some reason, that reminded me of a funny exchange I had with someone who was buying a lottery ticket, years ago...

    Me: "What are the chances that you'll win?"

    Him, with a heavy southern (US) accent: "50/50. You either win or you don't."

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  • [+] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (10 children)
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    Ok but did we really need yet another term that is difficult to distinguish from pre-existing terms?

    When you have to write an essay to describe it, that should be a clue.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    As someone who identifies as pansexual, the distinction i make is that I don't consider gender when vetting a potential partner, it's just not a metric that is part of that decision.

    Aside from that, your description here is spot on from what I understand at least. Of course gender and sexuality is a social construct so other people may feel differently

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

    bisexual = attracted to all genders

    pansexual = no gender they are not attracted to

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Kinda!

    The way I'd personally word it is:

    Bisexual = attracted to their own gender and other genders (perhaps not every gender but that depends on the person)

    Pansexual = gender is irrelevant

    The distinction is mostly semantic as it doesn't really change much in terms of how we operate in dating.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Counter-anecdote

    In my friend group, the bisexuals are very “gender is irrelevant.”

    While the “attracted to one specific gender and others” ppl tend me more … “straight, but I’ll suck a dick” (or the inverse “gay, but boobs are super hot”)

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    That's super interesting and totally does not at all reflect the conversations I've had with my friends!

    I guess it just goes to show how subjective it is, which is why there is no real consensus. I can only really speak for myself and the people in my circles. I won't argue with bisexual/pansexual people who identify differently because we dictate our own identities really.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    Bi-sexual. So attracted to both sexes. Not genders.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    So you're not bilingual if you know multiple languages?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

    Nope, that's multilingual or polyglot.

    Edit: I'm not here to comment on the bi/pan debate, and do not intend for my comment to extend to that debate. But the definition of "bilingual" (the subject of the question I'm answering) seems to be extremely clear on its specificity. From Merriam-Webster:

    1: having or expressed in two languages

    a bilingual document

    an officially bilingual nation

    2: using or able to use two languages especially with equal fluency

    bilingual in English and Japanese

    3: of or relating to bilingual education

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    My wife generally says that she's bi, but if she were coming out today she's said that she'd probably call herself pan, that just wasn't really a common term when back when she did come out so she's spent most of her life calling herself bi, and she just kind of identifies with that label more at this point.

    To her, the term bi does kind of imply that someone is attracted only to males or females and would tend to exclude non-binary gender identities (though not necessarily trans people, being MtF or FtM does still kind of line up with a traditional gender binary, a trans man is a man and a trans woman is a woman)

    Which doesn't really describe her, she'd be cool with any identity, which to her is more pan, but again she's just been calling herself bi for so long it just feels weird to change that, and since she's off the market at this point it's a little bit of a moot point anyway since she's not trying to get in anyone's pants but mine.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    I feel like placing identities into hierarchies always ends up controversial. Like non-binary is technically under transgender because transgender just means your transitioning from your assigned gender to something else; but a lot of non-binary people really don't like being called transgender instead of non-binary.

    At the end of the day, the words meanings are a subjective experience that cannot be directly observed or compared. So functionally all self-identifying terms exist flat relative to each other because there will always be contradictory definitions that you can't rigidly settle on without ignoring significant groups of people.

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