Pansexual
Written by TPOK Archivist on August 26, 2017
Omnisexual refers to someone who experiences sexual attraction towards individuals regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation. It is not that omnisexuals do not recognize genders or sexual orientations. It is that they are attracted to people of all genders and sexual orientations.
Pansexual is a gender identity people may use to label themselves when they are capable of falling in love and/or being sexually attracted to people all along the gender/sexuality spectrum. The term initially arose in psychoanalytic circles among people who believed that sexual energy plays a part in all human interaction, and is the primary source of energy in our lives. It has since been adopted by some people as a more inclusive term than bisexual, a term that implies that there are only two genders (male and female). Pansexuals, on the other hand, can be attracted to trans men and women, intersex people, androgynous people, and cisgendered people, among others.
(literally, all sexes) bisexual.
Usage: In some communities, particularly some parts of the lesbian and gay community, antipathy toward or hostility to people who self-identify as bisexual has become common. The term omnisexual has started to become popular as a synonym for bisexual but without the negative connotations of the word.
Pansexuality, or omnisexuality, is the sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction to others.
Pansexuality may be considered a sexual orientation in its own right or a branch of bisexuality, to indicate an alternative sexual identity. Because pansexual people are open to relationships with people who do not identify as strictly men or women, and pansexuality, therefore, rejects the gender binary, it is often considered a more inclusive term than bisexual. To what extent the term bisexual is inclusive when compared with the term pansexual is debated within the LGBT community, especially the bisexual community.