Pansexuality is a sexual orientation characterizing individuals who may be romantically or sexually attracted to an individual of any sex or gender. It should not be confused with bisexuality or romanticism, although ultimately the label does not matter. The Queer movement helps to better understand these new concepts.

If the word “pansexuality” was born in the twentieth century, it quickly fell into disuse in favor of the word “bisexuality” to differentiate itself from it and come back up to date with the birth of the Queer movement.

This movement arrived in France around the 2000s. The English word ” queer Means “strange”, “unusual”, “weird”, “twisted”. He defends a new concept: a person’s gender is not necessarily linked to their anatomy. 

This sociological and philosophical theory which postulates that sexuality but also gender – male, female, or other – are not determined exclusively on their biological sex, nor by their socio-cultural environment, by their life history, or by their choices. personal.

What is bisexuality?

Theoretically, bisexuality is defined as physical, sexual, emotional or romantic attraction for people of the same or the opposite gender. Bi corresponding to 2, we understand that the word can give the impression of being part of a theory according to which gender and sex are binary concepts (men / women). But it is not that simple.

What is pansexuality? 

Pansexuality is sexuality that concerns “everything” (pan in Greek). It is the physical, sexual, emotional or romantic attraction towards people without regard or preference in the gender and sex of the person that she identifies as female, trans, genderless or otherwise. The range is wide. The definition therefore seems to be part of a theory which recognizes more clearly on the etymological level the plurality of genders and identities. We are leaving “binary”.

This is the theory. In practice, everyone experiences their orientation in a different way. The choice of whether or not to use a tag is personal. For example, a person who identifies as “bi-sexual” does not necessarily buy into the idea that gender is uniquely masculine or feminine and may be attracted to someone whose gender is fluid (neither male nor female).

Pan and bi sexuality have in common the attraction to “more than one gender”.

A survey carried out in March 2018 among 1147 people from the LGBTI community (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans, intersex) by the association LCD (Fight against discrimination), discovered 13 different names for gender identification. Pansexuals accounted for 7,1%. They were at most 30 years old.

 The sociologist Arnaud Alessandrin, specialist in transidentities, remarks that “the benchmarks tend to be erased, including those concerning questions of sexuality. The old terms (homo, straight, bi, man, woman) are competing with new concepts. Some allow themselves the right to have a sexuality but also a gender of their own.

To emphasize the importance of not confusing bisexuality and pansexuality, each trend has a different international light. 

September 23 for bisexuals and May 24 for pansexuals. The bisexual pride flag has three horizontal stripes: 

• pink at the top for same-sex attraction;
• purple in the middle for identical attraction;
• blue at the bottom for attraction to the opposite sex.

The pansexual pride flag also displays three horizontal stripes: 

• a pink band for attraction to women above;
• a blue stripe at the bottom for men;
• a yellow band for “agenres”, “bi genres”, and “fluids”.

The term pansexuality is democratized as media statements to stars adulated through networks and television series. Speech becomes commonplace: 

• American singer actress Miley Cyrus has declared her pansexuality.
• Ditto for Christine and the Queens (Héloïse Letissier).
• Model Cara Delevingne and actress Evan Rachel Wood declare themselves bisexual.
• In the English television series “Skins”, actress Dakota Blue Richards plays the role of pansexual Franky.
• Quebec singer and actress Janelle Monae (Heart of Pirates) solemnly declares “I love all human beings”. 

The sexualities of adolescents in particular are upset both in the representations they have of it and in the behavior they adopt. 

New technologies have considerably changed the situation: voluminous sharing of images and videos, over-multiplication of contacts, permanence of contacts, free access to pornographic sites. Perhaps it would be prudent to be attentive to these upheavals, at least concerning adolescents.