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this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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To be fair, pansexuality is under the umbrella of bisexuality. What makes it more confusing is that there is no rule saying that bisexuals must only be attracted to 2 genders. Nor is there a rule stating that a bisexual must care about the gender of their partner.
Edit: bisexual is a very old term, but it does not strictly refer to only two genders.
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.
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.
But is there a rule that says a dog can’t play basketball?
No
We are a go for airbud 12
.
.
.
.
RIP Buddy we all love you
"That fuckin' dog ruined my life."
Doesn't the name imply only two?
No it implies once every other week
Wait
Well then what's semisexual?? I'll never get this figured out
that means you like large trucks for hauling commercial goods
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?
I've got a hot little Le Crouset simmering in the kitchen 🤤
The former, I guess, if this clip rubs you the right way.
Does this work?
YouTube
Link didn't work for me.
That's why most people just use YouTube. 🫠
Does this work?
YouTube
Or twice a week?
Too real.
Shit, that's the rough life. I'll take the twice a week definition instead please, Trebek.
That'd be semi-weekly.
You mean semi-sexual?
The "bi" is for both homosexual and heterosexual relations. Not gender itself.
TIL
Sure but it can be interpreted as "people who share my gender" and "people who do not share my gender."
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."
It does, but definitions often diverge from the original over time
That's because it's an extremely old term; it merely refers to someone who is attracted to more than one gender.
Bi-sexual. So attracted to both sexes. Not genders.
Nope. Bi means own gender and others.
Homo> Same Hetero > Different Bi > Attracted to both same and different
So you're not bilingual if you know multiple languages?
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
Sure. But if you want to dig that hard into the meaning of the suffix "bi" when used in queer spaces, you're gonna wear yourself out.
I identify pan because I don't care what's between your legs, I like you and want to touch it. But I'm not going to I'm acktually someone for feeling the exact same way but identify bi.
Please see my edit.
Please read my comment.
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
bisexual = attracted to all genders
pansexual = no gender they are not attracted to
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.
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”)
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.
Err shouldn't it be the other way around? Ie bisexuality under the umbrella of pan-?
No, not really. Bisexual is older and not enough people can even agree on what pansexuality is. There are people with gender preferences who still identify as pansexual, which kinda distills any point of the word.