What Is Pansexuality?

For centuries, we have divided our society into two genders: male and female. Everyone is included in one of these two categories when they’re born. According to this division, men should feel attracted to women and women should feel attracted to men. However, the human sexuality spectrum is much broader than that. This is where the different sexual orientations come into play, such as pansexuality.

The evolution of human sexuality

If a person is born with male sexual organs, they’re considered a man. The same goes for women. According to this, there are only two possible options in human sexuality. It’s either black or white.

Luckily, as our society has progressed, we have become aware of the wide range of options regarding human sexuality. This two-color spectrum has evolved into many more colors.

Nowadays, we can differentiate between heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, pansexuality, etc. Thus, the way people feel attracted to others, whether or not they’re of the same gender, varies greatly.

Pansexuality within human relationships

Pansexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by a physical and emotional attraction to an individual regardless of their sex or gender identity. Therefore, pansexuality represents the freest way in which relationships between human beings can be conceived. There are fewer rules when it comes to pansexuality.

This type of sexual orientation isn’t restrictive. Individuals that belong to binary genders, those who identify as a man or as a woman, as well as to non-binary genders, can be pansexual.

The difference between pansexuality and bisexuality

Given these definitions, the difference between pansexuality and bisexuality can be somewhat confusing. The main characteristic of pansexuality is that, as we’ve said, it encompasses non-binary genders.

A bisexual person finds both men and women attractive. Thus, bisexual people associate everyone to a particular gender. Women are female and men are male. Therefore, bisexuals continue to recognize the existence of a gender associated with each sex as something important in their attraction.

On the other hand, pansexual individuals don’t take into account a person’s sex or gender identity. Quite simply, a pansexual feels a physical and emotional attraction toward a person regardless of these things.

An unknown sexual orientation

Due to the difficulty in understanding this type of sexual orientation and the relative novelty of the term, a lot of people haven’t heard of pansexuality or they may consider it a more romantic idea than heterosexuality or homosexuality and something that’s more idyllic than real.

For this reason, many people commonly consider pansexuality a fad. Thus, many people believe pansexuality isn’t an authentic sexual orientation. Instead, they see it as someone’s way of attracting attention or an attempt to distinguish themselves from others.

Pansexuality today

Today, cinema, literature, and television reference this sexual orientation. As an example, several characters of the famous science fiction series Doctor Who have been defined as pansexuals. The series takes place in a distant, futuristic universe. Within this universe, the character Jack Harkness doesn’t classify people into men or women.

On the other hand, pansexuality has also appeared on the famous television show Sex in the City. The show stated it was the sexual orientation of the new millennium.

You can also find pansexual comic book characters, such as Wade W. Wilson, also known as Deadpool. This famous Marvel antihero is the perfect example of pansexuality. He doesn’t identify with a specific sexual orientation. Deadpool finds people attractive regardless of their gender identity or sex.