Pansexuality
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Pansexuality (sometimes referred to as omnisexuality[1]) is a sexual/affectional orientation characterized by a potential aesthetic attraction, romantic love and/or sexual desire for people of any sex or gender, including transsexual, transgendered, genderqueer and intersex people.
People who use the term "pansexual" may assert that the term is intended to dissolve what they perceive as a binary social construct of gender that divides people into categories of male and female. Those who use this term may claim that the term "bisexual" perpetuates this binary distinction, and marginalizes transsexual, transgendered, genderqueer people whose gender identity may not align with that of their biological sex at birth. Users also state that the term "bisexual" is particularly marginalizing to intersex people, whose chromosomes may not fit the most common distinctions of XX and XY.
Pansexuality is sometimes described as the capacity to love a person romantically irrespective of gender. Some people who are pansexual may assert that the concept of gender is meaningless to them. The word pansexual is derived from the Greek prefix pan-, meaning "all."
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[edit] Romance, attraction and preferences
The term pansexual generally is used for a person who does not classify their sexuality with a person's sex, but their gender. They believe that there is a set difference between sex and gender - gender being the socially constructed condition of being male or female, and sex being the biological condition of male or female.
People who are pansexual may be attracted to various different forms of romance, and may be aroused by various different acts of sex on a carnal level. Some suggest that pansexuality is more accurately described by its adepts: human- or person-oriented.[citation needed] Despite a pansexual's fluid sexuality, some may have sexual or gender preferences.[citation needed] A person who is pansexual may be attracted to all genders and sexes, but have a preference, (for example) for pre-operative transsexual people, other people who are pansexual, masculine lesbians, intersexed people, etc.
[edit] Pansexual sex
Many people who identify as pansexual may associate with people of all sexual orientations, but are not necessarily interested in sex with people of all sexes or genders.
Pansexuals usually consider any sexual act acceptable as long as it is consensual. For some people who are pansexual, biological sex is a secondary factor, something that will be discovered if and when sexual interaction takes place.
[edit] Cultural references
The character Jack Harkness from the BBC television series Doctor Who and Torchwood could be considered a person who is pansexual. He originally comes from around the year 5000, when humans are spread out across space, a far-future sociological situation that might be responsible for his potential to be attracted to humans irrespective of gender, and possibly species from other planets as well. It has been said that he does not see people in terms of gender. In Day One he expresses disapproval of humanity's "quaint little categories", and is described by teammate Toshiko Sato as being willing to "shag anybody as long as they're gorgeous enough". In the case of Jack, the distinction between bi and pansexual is irrelevant due to the fact that all his partners appear to fit into a male/female gender binary.
In an episode of Will & Grace, Karen Walker's pastry chef considers himself pansexual, which was revealed after he had sex with Will, Karen, and Rosario.
Captain Hero from Drawn Together is a notable example of pansexuality in recent popular fiction. While he also shows signs of various paraphilias, his most commonly shown sexual behavior to be attracted to his gay male housemate Xandir and occasionally his female housemates Princess Clara and Foxxy Love.
The Todd in the 82nd episode of Scrubs titled My Lucky Charm, exemplified pansexualism when confessing, "The Todd appreciates hot, regardless of gender". It was also evident in episode #113 My Lunch as he appeared attracted to every man and woman in the hallway.
In 2006, a controversial article about the different sexual orientations in Stuyvesant High School and how they represent a national trend appeared in New York Magazine.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/omnisexual The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved February 09, 2007, from Dictionary.com website
- ^ Alex Morris (2006). The Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School. New York Magazine.
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