Pansexuality

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Pansexuality (sometimes referred to as omnisexuality) is a sexual orientation characterized by the potential for aesthetic attraction, romantic love and/or sexual desire for people, regardless of their gender identity or biological sex. This includes potential attraction to people who do not fit into the gender binary of male/female implied by bisexual attraction. Pansexuality is sometimes described as the capacity to love a person romantically irrespective of gender. Some people who are pansexual also assert that gender and sex are meaningless to them. The word pansexual is derived from the Greek prefix pan-, meaning "all". This prefix is used specifically in contrast to the idea of 'two' genders as expressed by bi-, not to encompass all forms of sexuality, such as sexual fetishes unrelated to gender.

The adjective pansexual may also be applied to organizations or events. In this context, the term usually indicates an openness to the involvement of people of all genders and sexual orientations in said organization/event, not that everyone involved is, or should be, themselves pansexual. The terms "pansexual" and "bisexual" are not mutually exclusive terms, but rather pansexual is a way of defining bisexuality without necessarily denying the possibility of interest in genders and sexes such as those identifying as transgender, gender queer or "genderfuck. The term alternatively is described as a "means to skip the binaries and existentialism of 'bi'..

Romance, attraction and preferences

The term pansexual is generally used for people who do not classify their sexuality according to a person's sex, but rather their gender. They believe that there is a set difference between sex and gender—gender being the socially constructed condition of being masculine or feminine, and sex being the biological condition of male or female.

People who are pansexual may be attracted to various forms of romance, and may be aroused by various acts of sex on a carnal level. Some suggest that pansexuality is more accurately described by its adepts: human- or person-oriented, irrespective of a pansexual person's fluid sexuality. In some cases someone who is defined as strictly heterosexual can engage in sexual activities with someone of the same sex in which there is a close relationship but with no desire to do so with another of the same sex.

Popular Culture

In the BBC sci-fi series Torchwood, the character of Jack Harkness is frequently described as 'pansexual' or 'omnisexual'. Given the premise of the series, the character is depicted as sexually attracted not only to all human orientations but also potentially to aliens.

See also

• Bisexuality
• Pangender
• Polysexuality

References

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 18:24:20 PDT (GMT -0700)
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