âWhy did we need two labels for people who essentially experienced attraction in the same way? Why did there need to be two different communities? I couldnât find a satisfying answer to this question beyond the fact that, of course, people were allowed to identify in the way that felt most comfortab
âThe LGBTQ community does not need pansexuality. Bisexuality is enough.
For those who identify as pansexual, this might seem like a particularly unnecessary and mean-spirited belief. I initially thought the same thing - was this really important enough of an issue to stir up conflict and division? But the longer I studied and thought about this issue, the more I realized the answer was yes. Pansexuality is fundamentally based in biphobic misconceptions and stereotypes and is causing significant harm to the LGBTQ community, particularly to youth. Bisexual people are often stereotyped as flaky, indecisive, lying cheaters and shallow, sex-obsessed freaks that cannot be trusted. These damaging stereotypes, and the rejection of them, have played an integral role in forming the pansexual identity. It is also widely believed that bisexuality means a 50% attraction to cisgender men and 50% attraction to cisgender women, with no room for attraction to transgender men and women, attraction to people of other genders, or fluid experiences of attraction. These ideas are largely the basis on which pansexuality is built. Pansexuality is presented as the progressive, inclusive solution to this outdated, bigoted sexuality.
The problem with this logic is that it is based on historically inaccurate information about bisexuality. Bisexuality has never needed to be defined as attraction to âonly two genders,â and to suggest such is to ignore LGBTQ history.
People who promote the âpansexualâ label often use the phrase âhearts not partsâ to convey their attraction to people, not specific genitals. This phrase carries with it the implication that people of other sexualities are attracted exclusively to certain genitals, and specifically stigmatizes lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Even further, âhearts not partsâ perpetuates the dangerous stereotypes that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are perverted, predatory, and sex-obsessed. Â
Whatever the reasons may be for someone choosing to claim pansexuality, instead of or along with bisexuality, Iâm convinced a major contributing factor to this whole problem is societal biphobia. Identifying as pansexual distances you from the stigma of bisexuality, which is one of the reasons this newer label is so appealing. All of the stereotyping, fetishization, discrimination, and violence bisexual people face as a result of our sexuality does not exactly make identifying as bisexual appealing. Openly identifying as bisexual is not safe. People see bisexual men as really gay and as threats who spread HIV to heterosexual women, if they choose to acknowledge that men can be bisexual at all. People see bisexual women as really straight, performing their attraction to other women for the sake of straight men, and as a fetish and porn category. Bisexual people as a whole are seen as confused, greedy, cheating monsters that will eventually settle down and âpick a side.â Itâs no wonder that many young people who grew up hearing all of these violent beliefs are shying away from bisexuality and choosing to identify with a different term or none at all.
But if thereâs one thing I could tell pansexual people about the bisexual community, it would be that we have room for you. You do not need to make a new label or a new community because you are scared of who people will think you are. If you are attracted to more than one gender, you can claim bisexuality - thatâs it. If you see yourself as someone who is attracted to all genders or attracted to people regardless of gender, congratulations! Bisexuality includes you. When everyone is accurately educated on bisexual history and what bisexuality really is (and what it is not!), I donât think there will be any reason for the âpansexualâ label to continue. There will be no more need to run away from bisexuality. When you choose to claim bisexuality as a part of yourself, you become part of a community with a long, rich history of shared struggle and shared joy. It is worth it. Bisexuality is beautiful. Bisexuality is enough.â
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