There are some transphobes and/or enbyphobes who will insist that bisexual means attraction to only two genders, and we all know why they’re doing that.
Others will say that bisexual means they based on the meaning of the prefix “bi-”. But that is the etymological fallacy. The current meaning of a word is not necessarily related to its etymological origin. Words change meaning literally all the time, and we should all be nonplussed about it by now [1].
In reality, words only mean what people generally understand them to mean [2]. Most dictionaries still retain, at least implicitly, a two definition, but most LGBT+ orgs and psychological associations and whatnot tend to define it as “more than one” gender, or similar.
Similarly, pansexual is generally defined as attraction to all genders or attraction being irrelevant of gender in the vast majority of places that care to declare a definition. But there are those who use it to mean the same thing as the latter definition of bisexual because they believe bisexual to mean the former definition of bisexual.
So what is the actual difference? It probably depends where you are and who you’re talking to. Womp womp.
There’s a joke/stereotype that many people who describe themselves as bi are attracted to one specific type of guy, and literally all women.
In my practical experience, people are more likely to identify as bisexual if they tend have a preference for certain gender presentations over others, and more likely to identify as pansexual if they are (closer to being) equally horny for all. Or if they have a preference for more pastel colours.
🤷♀️
[1] Even I believe, in my heart, that using the word nonplussed this way is wrong.
[2] Ha! I got the linguistic prescriptivists and the logicians with that one!
There are some transphobes and/or enbyphobes who will insist that bisexual means attraction to only two genders, and we all know why they’re doing that.
Others will say that bisexual means they based on the meaning of the prefix “bi-”. But that is the etymological fallacy. The current meaning of a word is not necessarily related to its etymological origin. Words change meaning literally all the time, and we should all be nonplussed about it by now [1].
In reality, words only mean what people generally understand them to mean [2]. Most dictionaries still retain, at least implicitly, a two definition, but most LGBT+ orgs and psychological associations and whatnot tend to define it as “more than one” gender, or similar.
Similarly, pansexual is generally defined as attraction to all genders or attraction being irrelevant of gender in the vast majority of places that care to declare a definition. But there are those who use it to mean the same thing as the latter definition of bisexual because they believe bisexual to mean the former definition of bisexual.
So what is the actual difference? It probably depends where you are and who you’re talking to. Womp womp.
There’s a joke/stereotype that many people who describe themselves as bi are attracted to one specific type of guy, and literally all women.
In my practical experience, people are more likely to identify as bisexual if they tend have a preference for certain gender presentations over others, and more likely to identify as pansexual if they are (closer to being) equally horny for all. Or if they have a preference for more pastel colours.
🤷♀️
[1] Even I believe, in my heart, that using the word nonplussed this way is wrong.
[2] Ha! I got the linguistic prescriptivists and the logicians with that one!