Bisexual: attracted to two or more genders and are autumn or winter coloring.
Pansexual: attracted to more than one gender, and are a spring or summer.
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
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For anyone genuinely confused:
Monosexual (mono = 1) - attracted to people of exactly 1 gender. Heterosexuality, homosexuality and attractions to any other specific gender and nothing else go here.
Bisexual (bi = 2) - attracted to people of exactly 2 genders, most typically male and female, but can be anything. This term can be used by pansexuals in the context where people are not properly aware of the existing of other genders.
Polysexual (poly = several) - attracted to people of several (3 and more) various genders. Pretty self-explanatory at this point.
Pansexual (pan = everything) - attracted to people of all genders. If you're sexy to a given pansexual, they don't care what your gender is - male, female, or any flavor of nonbinary. Just be cool.
The confusion stems from the previous understanding that there are only two genders, and the fact the awareness of different genders came before pansexuality or polysexuality were widely discussed, which made a giant mess with pansexuals categorizing themselves as bisexuals and then claiming being bisexual is not just about two genders. It is, it's in the name, and we have proper terms for other options now.
FYI: Some people also prefer the term "omnisexual", which also means being attracted to people of all genders, but accentuates the gender differences. So, instead of pansexual "I don't care of your gender, just be cool", it's more like "women are cute and nice, men are strong huggers and damn boy be the big spoon, agenders are special and whew I like that" etc. etc. Basically, loving everyone, but each gender is attractive in its own unique way.
You're only pansexual if you're from the Panne region of France, otherwise you're just sparkling bisexual.
Don't do this. That joke is tiresome. Please stop.
Is your boredom from the Tirésomme region? Or you're just sparkling bored?
Typical lemmyworld...
The difference is that they’re both getting fucked over and not in the sexy way…
Wait that’s not a difference
So the definitions I've seen here are:
- Bisexuals are only attracted to cis people, pansexuals are attracted to cis, trans, and nonbinary people
- Bisexuals are only attracted to binary genders, while pansexuals are attracted to all genders
- Bisexuals are attracted based on looks, pansexuals are attracted based on personality (possibly means they're demi too)
- Bisexuals are attracted to people because of gendered characteristics, pansexuals are attracted to people regardless of gendered characteristics (not really sure what this one means, different wording of the previous one?)
- Bisexuals are attracted to more than one gender, pansexuals are attracted to all genders
- Bisexuals are monogamous, pansexuals are polyamorous
- Bisexuals like the bi flag, pansexuals like the pan flag
- Plus various other joke definitions
Did I miss any? A couple of these were new to me. Innovations in the discourse?
Bisexuals think transfolks are their gender and know what pan means, pansexuals don't exist because they're fucking LYING if they say they find the Xcgutrian gender sexy.
I'd say the only meaningful distinction is that some people make up a definition "bi" could have had but never did, and then use "pan" in opposition to that 😛
But more honestly I asked my sister why she identifies as pan rather than bi, and her answer was that bi attracted the wrong people and pan attracted the right people 😉
Bisexuals have a cooler flag, pretty sure that's the only difference. Otherwise they're both labels that fail to adequately describe the infinitely personal and variable elements of human attraction and sexuality. Use whichever one feels right. I flip between bi and pan when labeling myself but omnisexual probably "fits" the best
Isn't that just changing it from the Greek pan prefix to Latin omni prefix, both meaning all?
Omnisexuality is differentiated from bi/pan in recognizing the role of gender in attraction, and expresses a.preference for certain genders over others. For example, I'm mostly attracted to fem, queer, or androgynous presenting people, and not particularly drawn to masc people. I am attracted to some men (amab or.afab), but not to the same degree as I am with other gender expressions
Problem: There are 2 competing labels for universal attraction
Solution: "Omnisexual should represent universal attraction"
Problem: there are 3 competing labels for universal attraction
Pish pish! The Pan flag is amazing! It’s like a sunset ice cream Sunday!
Haha, to each their own!
Oh look what you've done now. You've made it worse. Omnisexual? Now there's three terms confuddling the concept.
Behold the magnificence and terror of my eldritch, unknowable sexuality!
Every definition I have heard for pansexuality or similar that defines the term in contrast to bisexuality reads like slander to my ears.
Bisexuality is a broad category, and it was never exclusionary. Bisexuals can be attracted to trans people, and enbies, and those with or without gendered presentations, but critically they don't have to be. Its a category not a checklist.
Bisexuality is broad. Other terms are more specific, and there is some amount of overlap.
As a trans woman, I am deeply opposed to the idea, implied by many definitions, that the only people who can find me attractive are those with a specific trans inclusive sexual orientation. Its both invalidating, and completely untrue in reality.
Yeah, the only way pansexual makes sense, to me at least, is if bisexual excludes feminine presenting men and masculine presenting women, but I don't see why it should. I feel like pan was just created either to make certain people feel like they're being more inclusive than just normal bi people, or to make bi people feel like they're being exclusive.
A lot of the gender and sexual orientation language of recent times is good and removes ambiguity. Some of it though, like pan, feels like people just treating it as a contest.
The definitions I've known are that bisexuality is that you are attracted to all body types and pansexuality is that you are attracted to people.
So, one is more physical and the other is more social, but there's no slander to either, no?
I for example wouldn't say ace biromantic, I'd define it as ace panromantic since bi has more of a physical vibe. Idk, it's not so deep.
As a trans person and a pansexual, I would describe it like this:
I don't have a type. I don't even necessarily tend to find people attractive until I get to know them a bit. The people I find "hot" aren't tall people or feminine people or strong people or anything like that, instead I think clothing choices that tell me something about you and give me a feel for who you are as a person are hot.
If i'm attracted to you, I will find myself attracted to your body, rgardlesss of what your body happens to be like. You could literally be a glob of goo or an alien or a talking rock, if I like you I'll start thinking you're hot.
If you're thinking "isn't that demisexual"? then you're halfway there - i'm not ace. I do think people are hot when I pass them on the street, except what i'm attracted to is their "vibe" rather than anything about their physical form.
Naturally, pansexual is a subset of bisexual - i'm also proud to be bi and I use that label frequently. And yes both bi and pan are trans-inclusive.
You wrote off demi too fast. When you say you find people passing with a good vibe hot, are we saying aroused, or are we saying "Ah, yes, quite the fuckable one, that". Because there's a third option and bi or pan only cover one while demi covers two.
If I can get enough of a read on someone's personality, then yes I can be aroused, lip bite, let's fuck, etc. more or less right away. I do need to get to know someone to be into them but that process can happen extremely quickly, including at a glance if I can get enough of a sense of someone's personality from what they're wearing/other context clues.
As a trans woman, I am deeply opposed to the idea, implied by many definitions, that the only people who can find me attractive are those with a specific trans inclusive sexual orientation. Its both invalidating, and completely untrue in reality.
This. Trans women are women. As a bisexual woman, I am attracted to women.
Trans people are also included in the bisexual manifesto, written in 1990
In fact, don't assume that there are only two genders.
The way I always understood it was bisexual = attraction to your gender and other genders
and pansexual = attraction regardless of gender
now, functionally speaking, there is no distinction, but in terms of experience, I always identified more with pansexual than bisexual, as someone's gender was just never something I took into account when determining my attraction.
I often to use both, as I consider pansexual to be a sub-distinction of bisexual.
That being said I recognize there is no consensus on the distinction in the community so I usually go with bi for ease.
I've always understood it as pansexual being attracted to personalities and bisexual being attracted to physical attributes
I guess that does kind of align with my understanding, just in slightly more simplified terms!
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I tell straight people I'm bi, i tell queer people I'm pan.
That way, you see, ha ha, I get the best of both worlds
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