When it comes to sexual orientation, there are myriad ways people can identify, whether that’s homosexual, bisexual, a sexual, demisexual – the list goes on.
For some people, the prospect of gender when forming a relationship or sexual attraction never comes into the equation. As a result, they may refer to themselves as being ‘pansexual’.
But what does the term 'pansexual' mean and how is it different to bisexuality?
What is pansexuality?
Queer advocacy organisation GLAAD broadly defines being pansexual as 'being attracted to all gender identities, or attracted to people regardless of gender.
'Being pansexual basically means to me that you are attracted to anyone, no matter their sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, everything,’ a description on the organisation’s website reads. ‘There's no limits. I'll date anyone. It's more that I love someone for their soul.’
Jazz Jennings, trans advocate and star of American reality show I Am Jazz, previously told Cosmopolitan of how she describes living as a pansexual as: ‘Physically, I think I'm more attracted to boys but sometimes I'm attracted to girls too, so it's weird.’
Alexa, 25, told Teen Vogue that she figured out her pansexual identity when she fell in love with another woman, post-college: 'I wouldn't go so far [as] to say I'm gender-blind; I work off energy. If I dig your energy, I dig you.'
Is pansexuality a 'new trend'?
The easy answer to this is 'hell no'.
Though the term has come to the surface of popular culture in recent years, pansexuality has actually been around since the early 20th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'pansexual' first appeared in 1914 as the word 'pan-sexualism' in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
A doctor named J. Victor Haberman unpacked psychologist Sigmund Freud's theory which was that 'the pan-sexualism of mental life which makes every trend revert finally to the sexual’.
In essence, Freud believed that sex is a motivator of all things, as opposed to the modern meaning of one's sexual orientation.
Unfortunately, pansexuality was not previously widely understood, with reports of people in 1920s and 1930s who loved across 'labels and boundaries' in Harlem and Chicago's South Side considered as if they suffered from a mental disorder. It wasn’t until pioneering American sex researcher Alfred Kinsey (inventor of the Kinsey scale) explained that sexuality operated on a continuum, that labels began to be introduced to describe sexual orientation.
The 1970s saw the first signs of 'pansexual' being used in roughly the same way as it is today.
Which celebrities identify as being pansexual?
Demi Lovato opened up about their sexual identity, confirming that they identifies as pansexual.
They made the admission while explaining their interested in adopting children one day on an episode of Joe Rogan’s Experience podcast in March 2021.
'I also don’t know if I’m going to end up with a guy, so I can’t really see myself getting pregnant,' Lovato said. 'I don’t know. I’m so fluid now, and part of the reason why I am so fluid is because I was like super closeted off.'
The host then asked: 'You mean like sexually fluid? You like girls, you like boys? What do they call that, pansexual or something like that?'
'Yeah, pansexual,' Lovato replied, later adding: 'I heard someone call the LGBTQIA+ community the "alphabet mafia" and I was like, "That's it. That's what I'm going with". I’m part of the alphabet mafia and proud.'
Miley Cyrus first came out as pansexual in her cover interview with ELLE UK in 2015 during which she said: 'I’m very open about it – I’m pansexual.’
Later that year, the singer explained her description of her sexual orientation in an interview with Paper magazine, adding: 'I am literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn't involve an animal and everyone is of age.
‘I don't relate to being boy or girl, and I don't have to have my partner relate to boy or girl.'
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ‘pansexual’ became one of the most widely searched terms in 2018 after ‘PYNK’ singer Janelle Monáe told Rolling Stone magazine that she 'read about pansexuality and was like, “Oh, these are things that I identify with too”.’
Film characters like Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian (in Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool (Deadpool), have also been noted as pansexual.
Actress Bella Thorne and model Tess Holliday come out as pansexual in July 2019 – to ABC news and in an interview with NYLON magazine, respectively.
Cara Delevingne spoke about being pansexual during Pride Month in June 2020 with Variety magazine.
‘I always will remain, I think, pansexual,’ she told the publication. ‘However one defines themselves, whether it’s “they” or “he” or “she,” I fall in love with the person — and that’s that. I’m attracted to the person.’
The 27-year-old added that she never thought she ‘needed to come out’, adding: ‘It was just kind of like, “This is who I am. Just so you know.”’
For a long time, she said she never wanted to admit who she was and was brought up in an ‘old-fashioned, repressed English family’.
‘I used the word “gay” to describe things which were sh*t all the time: “That’s so f*cking gay of you, man,”’ Delevingne explained. ‘Everyone used to talk about “Oh, my God, imagine going down on a woman.” I’d be like, “That’s disgusting.”
‘I didn’t want to upset my family. I was deeply unhappy and depressed. When you don’t accept a part of yourself or love yourself, it’s like you’re not there, almost.’
Following her split from actress Ashley Benson last year, she added: ‘A sense of pride is like a sense of belonging, a family outside your family, a place where you don’t have to apologize or feel ashamed. I guess I never felt like I belonged anywhere as a kid. Or I always felt like I didn’t belong in my own body. I felt so lost.’
Model Lottie Moss – Kate Moss's younger sister – revealed that she is pansexual in November 2020. In an Instagram Live Q&A session with fans, she admitted that she feels 'less comfortable' dating men.
Other pansexual celebrities include; Héloïse Letissier aka Christine and the Queens, Comedian Joe Lycett, Panic! At The Disc's Brendon Urie, Orange Is The New Black star Asia Kate Dillon, drag star Courtney Act aka Shane Jenek (from Ru Paul's Drag Race and Celebrity Big Brother) and singer Brooke Candy.
How do people identify as a pansexual?
For someone who is pansexual, gender doesn't factor into the process of attraction. However, that's also not to say that they solely fancy others based on their personality. If they did, then the individual might identify as being demisexual.
Lana Peswani, a volunteer at Stonewall who identifies as pansexual, told Cosmopolitan: 'I never look at someone and think, “I wonder what it'd be like to f*ck them? I wonder what their genitals look like. That thought doesn't enter my head.’
During a 2013 interview with Fusion TV, agender rapper Angel Haze said: 'To identify as pansexual, to me, means to just want love. To have a connection with anyone you can find it with.'
However, pansexuality is not to be confused with bisexuality.
What's the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality?
While bisexuality and pansexuality have a lot of similarities, GLAAD defines bisexual as 'being attracted to more than one gender', whereas pansexuality as 'all gender identities'. All isn't the same as multiple.
Equally, that’s not to say that people who are bisexual aren't attracted to anyone who is transgender or non-binary, which includes being bigender, agender, or genderfluid, to name only a few terms.
Healthline explains that bisexuality means different things to different people. 'To some people, it means attraction to two or more genders, or multiple genders. To others, it means attraction to people of the same gender and people who are another gender. Some bisexual people might only be attracted to men and women and not nonbinary people, but that’s not every bisexual person’s experience.'
Try thinking about it in terms of chocolate bars. One person might say, ' I like more than one chocolate bar!' Another might say, 'I like all chocolate bars.'
The first person might like all chocolate bars, but they might not. They might not like Snickers or Bounty. Perhaps they like blocks of chocolate but not ones filled with different ingredients.
This is because 'all chocolate bars' is, by definition, more than one. However, 'more than one' isn’t technically all.
Such confusion was seen during the backlash following a recent Big Mouth episode on Netflix.
During the episode, the character Ali (voiced by Ali Wong) introduces herself to her classmates saying that she is pansexual, which she defines as attraction that’s not limited by gender identity.
Another character, named Nick Birch (voiced by co-creator Nick Kroll), subsequently asks if being pansexual is the same as being bisexual, the latter of which Ali rejects as ‘so binary’.
Fans of the show took umbrage with Wong’s character implying that bisexuals are not attracted to people unless they are cisgender, and that only ‘pan’ people are attracted to those who are trans.
Andrew Goldberg, Big Mouth co-creator, later addressed the backlash stating: ‘We missed the mark here with this definition of bisexuality vs. pansexuality, and my fellow creators and I sincerely apologise for making people feel misrepresented.’
Daniella, 28, discovered her pansexuality after first thinking she was bisexual. She previously told Teen Vogue that she took a course in queer studies, and then assessed her sexuality.
'To shut yourself off because you are predisposed to thinking you’re not attracted to men or whatever, I think can prematurely shut you down from a connection that you can have,' she noted. 'It never felt right for me to identify as bisexual. I never wanted to alienate anyone in my sexual exploration. Even though I have never been with anyone who is trans, I’m open to it.'
For Daniella, it was more of a political decision. 'I think everyone, regardless of who they are with, should identify as pansexual. I think that would help everyone love each other more,' she said.
How do you know which term fits for you?
There's no test to determine whether you're bisexual, pansexual or any other orientation, but Healthline suggests asking yourself these questions to help:
- Is there any gender that I don’t ever feel attracted to?
- Is there any gender — or group of genders — that I’m not sure if I’m attracted to?
- What word feels best?
- What community do I feel comfortable with?
- Am I romantically attracted to the same people I’m sexually attracted to?
Remember, there's no right or wrong and you can identify with multiple terms – you can also change your mind later on!
According to Tinder’s new Future of Dating report, released in March, the pandemic has encouraged the app's users to focus more on being truthful and vulnerable about who they are. When it comes to what Gen Z (18-25 year olds) are now seeking for in a partner or relationship, almost half (48%) admitted that they're looking for someone honest, authentic and truly themselves when with them.
Do pansexuals have their own Pride flag?
Yes, they do.
While the iconic rainbow flag that has represented Pride in the LGBTQ community for more than 40 years, since it's creation in 1978 there has been a few alterations to include references to other underrepresented communities.
According to pride.com, the pansexual pride flag was created online in 2010 as a way for pansexual people to distinguish themselves from bisexual people. Similar to the bisexual flag (pink, purple and dark blue), the pink and blue stripes represent attraction to men and women, but the pansexual flag's yellow stripe shows attraction to non-binary and gender-nonconforming people.
Is there a pansexual emoji?
Unfortunately, not.
On June 2019's World Emoji Day, Apple and Google showed off some of the 230 new emojis that were on the way and while there will be great strides in diversity, for example for wheelchair users, those with hearing aids and prosthetic limbs, there is still a distinct lack of LGBTQ+ flags.
There are currently 268 country flag emojis, according to Emojipedia's blog, along with a few 'fun ones' like a pirate flag, yet there is only one pride flag available: the rainbow flag Last year, Emojipedia announced on Twitter that it was launching a transgender flag emoji.
The lack feels a tad absurd when you consider the other, arguably unnecessary, emojis that exist (think the banjo, pirate flag and a stick of butter with a little bit sliced off...) While you can download the trans flag on WhatsApp and Twitter desktop (there is a special code), Unicode. which creates emojis for iPhones, does not have one.
Feminist Gifts: 65 Badass Gifts For Your Favourite Feminist, From Candles And Books To T-shirts
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
In need of more inspiration, thoughtful journalism and at-home beauty tips? Subscribe to ELLE's print magazine today! SUBSCRIBE HERE
