What does it mean to be pansexual?

Do any of your friends identify as pansexual?

Over the past year, I've increasingly noticed teens, celebrities, and some Christians identifying as pan or pansexual. I've read the internet definitions, and as someone who teaches about sexuality for a living I'm supposed to know what it means to be pan, with precision.

But I'm gonna be honest. I feel a little lost.

So instead of teaching, I come to you today to learn!

In particular, I'm hoping that people who identify as pan would be willing to comment or direct message me about the following questions distinguishing pansexuality from bisexuality:

1. If, like many pan people, you would say that you're attracted to people regardless of gender/biosex, could you clarify which of those it is? Could you clarify whether you don't consider gender, you don't consider biosex, or you don't consider either?

2. To what extent do you experience inherent physical/sexual attractions to both males and females similar to bisexual people versus experiencing meaningfully more inherent physical/sexual attractions to one more than the other but choose to be open to all?

3. To what extent is your pansexuality different from being bisexual because you are generally open to dating trans people where as you generally assume that bisexual people are not open to dating trans people?

4. I've heard that (for some) pansexuality differs from bisexuality in that bi people generally can't help but be attracted to both males and females in some meaningful way, where as pan people (regardless of inherent physical/sexual attractions) are choosing culturally/philosophically to be open to falling in love with anyone without considering gender/biosex. Does that fit for you?

To be clear, I know there's overlap between all of these. I'm particularly looking for help identifying where the differences are between bisexuality and pansexuality, more often than not.

Ohh, and if you're pan and think I'm asking the wrong questions, feel free to point me to some better questions.

P.S. Even if you're not pan, I'm curious whether you'd say you're primarily attracted to the biological sex of another, to their gender, or a mix? I'll admit, I think my attractions are primarily to biological sex. If you have the body of Chris Hemsworth, how masc/fem you are and your gender identity will have a negligible impact on my attractions.

The Results

UPDATE: According to your responses…

I wanted to check back in with yall about what I learned from my polls on Insta, FB, Twitter, and Threads re: the differences between bisexuality vs. pansexuality.

Interestingly, a good number of people said they basically mean the same thing but younger people use "pan". Another cluster of people said that "pan" means different things to different people and can't be defined.

Among those who identify as pansexual and responded to my polls...

- 70% said they're attracted to people regardless of their gender identity/expression or physical characteristics associated with biological sex

- 65% said that they have chosen culturally/philosophically to be open to falling in love with anyone (as opposed to it being an unavoidable/inherent sexual orientation)

- 85% said that they weren't open to dating trans people

- 80% of respondents were females (assigned at birth)

As a gay person who has had to argue for decades that I didn't chose my sexual orientation, I found it interesting that most respondents said they chose to be pansexual (as opposed to it being an unavoidable/inherent sexual orientation).

I was also surprised that while most defined their pansexuality as an openness to falling in love with people regardless of gender or biosex characteristics, most weren't open to dating trans people.

This was a small sample size, so I don't pretend that these polls speak for all pan-identifying people. But I thought it was interesting how the aggregate responses from actual pan people differed from how the internet seemed to define pansexuality.

Ohh, and I polled people who aren't pansexual about whether they're primarily attracted to gender identity/expression, physical characteristics associated with biological sex, or both. Everyone said they considered biosex characteristics, and 65% said they aren't meaningfully attracted to gender identity/expression.