What does it mean to be pansexual?
Bella Thorne revealed she identifies as pansexual in an interview with “Good Morning America” that aired Monday. However, the concept remains unfamiliar for many.
Thorne, who came out as bisexual on Twitter in 2016, said she’s recently realized her sexuality doesn’t fit that label.
“I’m actually pansexual, and I didn’t know that,” Thorne said in the interview. “Somebody explained to me really thoroughly what that is.”
Thorne described her sexuality as favoring someone’s personality more than their body.
“You like beings,” she said. “You like what you like. Doesn’t have to be a girl or a guy or a he or she or they or this or that. It’s literally you like personality. You just like a being.”
While celebrities may be bringing media attention to pansexuality, the concept is not new, according to GLAAD President & CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis.
Here’s a quick explainer:
Q: What does pansexual mean?
A pansexual is a person who is attracted to all gender identities, or attracted to people regardless of gender, according to GLAAD President & CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis.
That means a person who identifies as pansexual may be attracted to a transgender person, someone who goes by by the gender neutral terms of “ze” or “zir,” or someone who identifies as straight or gay.
Jazz Jennings, a transgender teenage woman, told Cosmo, that pansexual means you are “attracted to anyone, no matter their sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, everything.”
“There’s no limits,” she said. “I’ll date anyone. It’s more that I love someone for their soul. Physically, I think I’m more attracted to boys but sometimes I’m attracted to girls too, so it’s weird.”
Q: Is pansexual a new term?
Pansexual isn’t a new term, but Ellis said we are hearing it more often because younger generations seem to be identifying as pansexuals more and more.
Ellis said upcoming GLAAD research on how Gen Z and millennials identify and see the world has shown that there is a growing trend toward gender fluidity.
Only 48% of Gen Z, or the generation born after millennials, identify exclusively as heterosexual, according to a recent report from J. Walter Thompson Innovation Group.
An upcoming GLAAD study reaffirms those findings, according to Ellis said.
Q: Is pansexuality different than bisexuality?
Bisexuality and pansexuality are not interchangeable words, Ellis said, though pansexuality does fall under the so-called “bisexuality umbrella.”
“Pan is more about all-inclusive, and bi tends to be more than one,” she said, adding, “The golden rule, honestly, is to call someone by how the identify.”
A common conception of bisexuality is that bisexual people find themselves attracted to men or women, reinforcing a gender binary. But Ellis said that’s not the case.
“The reality is that bi means more than one,” she said. “The bi community feels very strongly that [bisexuality] is not being binary either.”
.USA Today