I’m a pansexual non-binary person who is truly attracted to people of all genders. Figuring out how exactly to label my sexuality was a difficult journey, because there wasn’t a lot of pansexual visibility when I was coming of age in the early 2010s.
Fast forward a decade later and pan visibility has exploded. Major celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Yungblud, and Demi Lovato have come out as pansexual. The annual Pansexual Visibility Day, on May 24, has given the community a time to celebrate the beauty and joy of being pansexual. And as more people come out as pan, that community is growing by leaps and bounds every year.
Being pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender, rather than for their gender, according to Jay Watts, known as Jay Tha’ Loveologist, a pansexual sex counselor and founder of the Center for Empowered Sexual Wellness.
“Pan means being open to all loving, whether you’re looking at gender or not looking at gender. It means understanding that romantic, emotional, and potentially sexual attraction is geared towards that energy you’re receiving from individuals,” they told them.
What does pansexual mean?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term pansexual first came about in 1914 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology to describe feeling sexual towards everyone. Since then, the term has evolved into something people wear with pride, a term that describes attraction to people of all genders or no gender at all.
A 2018 report by the Human Rights Campaign found that 14% of LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 13 and 17 said they are pansexual. In the last decade, prominent celebrities like Janelle Monáe and Cara Delevingne have proudly come out as pansexual.
“Pansexuality is really about looking outside of the box and saying ‘hey, we just want individuals to show up as themselves,’” Watts said. “It’s hard for some individuals to wrap their head around because we as a society haven’t done a good job in showcasing that.”
She told them. that pansexuality in particular is inclusive of people who are agender, or people without a gender.
Am I pansexual?
A good way to tell whether you are pansexual is by thinking about how you feel attraction. Ask yourself if someone’s gender is crucial for you in order to develop feelings for them.