Difference between panromantic and biromantic?

[Spades36]

What's the difference between panromantic and biromantic? I have trouble believing that the biromantic label just excludes nonbinary folk from their attraction - I identify as bi and some of my friends do as well. We all define it as falling for whoever, regardless of gender and sex. That, however, seems to be the definition of pan. What's the actual difference???? Why are there two words for this?? It seems to me just that bi was the term that was coined before attitudes towards gender expanded more. Do other people agree?

[Guest]

It's a question of how many genders are you attracted to/if you believe that gender exists on a continuum.

[X86]

24 minutes ago, Spades36 said:

What's the difference between panromantic and biromantic? I have trouble believing that the biromantic label just excludes nonbinary folk from their attraction - I identify as bi and some of my friends do as well. We all define it as falling for whoever, regardless of gender and sex. That, however, seems to be the definition of pan. What's the actual difference???? Why are there two words for this?? It seems to me just that bi was the term that was coined before attitudes towards gender expanded more. Do other people agree?

I think it's mainly a difference in ideology or worldview. "[F]alling for whoever, regardless of gender and sex" is strictly speaking pan and not bi, but in practice, they are nearly identical. You could see it as a more inclusive term for the same phenomenon. I personally prefer pan, because it doesn't enforce the gender binary, but that's a matter of preference (and as very few people actually know what pan means, I tend to use bi afk).

 

The only thing I can think of that could only apply to someone who's bi is a gender or sex-based preference (something like "I like tall men, but I prefer short women"). If you're pan, gender or sex inherently doesn't make a difference, whereas if you're bi, you just fall for both women and men.

[Rynn]

There are actually people who are only attracted to feminine women and masculine men, as proven by terrance_barnes in this thread:

 

But a lot of people simply use pansexual/panromantic as a political statement ("Yeah, I just said that I think there's more than 2 gender identities, deal with it!"), while saying bisexual/biromantic is just easier and more convenient because people already know what that means so you don't have to do all of the explaining.

 

By the way you've also got polysexual, omnisexual, skoliosexual etcetera.

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[JAKQ7111]

The difference between pan and bi is like the difference between squares and rectangles.  The most commonly accepted definition of bisexuality/biromanticism is "sexual/romantic attraction to genders like your own, and genders different from your own", and of pansexuality/romanticism is "sexual/romantic attraction to people of all genders/regardless of gender".  There are many people who call themselves bisexual/romantic who also fit the definition of pan, but choose to call themselves bi for their own reasons.  There are also other bi people who do not fit the definition of pansexuality/romanticism.

 

 I was fortunate enough to attend a panel Robyn Ochs led back in college, and she gave two examples of what bisexuality can look like: Herself, someone who doesn't see gender as particularly relevant, and a friend of hers, who said gender is very relevant to him, as he is attracted to "football players and cheerleaders", without much in between.  In short, not all bi people are pan, but all pan people are bi+

[nanogretchen4]

When I say that I am bi that is intended as an accurate statement of what I know to be true about my own sexual orientation, since I have actually in real life desired sex with specific women and also with specific men. If someone says they are pan I think there's a pretty high probability that they are heterosexual but making a political statement.

[RK800]

@JAKQ7111 put it well.

 

Just now, nanogretchen4 said:

When I say that I am bi that is intended as an accurate statement of what I know to be true about my own sexual orientation, since I have actually in real life desired sex with specific women and also with specific men. If someone says they are pan I think there's a pretty high probability that they are heterosexual but making a political statement.

Uhhh...no, I just like people of all genders or regardless of gender. I'm definitely not straight, my boyfriend could vouch for that.

[Homo_sapien]

Don’t worry... panromantic is just an overcomplicated term for bisexual.

[squaggly]

biromantic is attracted to both men and women.

panromantic means anyone. Even if you don't believe in more than just male and female, you can still be this if you are attracted to trans people in transition, who you really couldn't say are physically either gender. If you are really strict about gender identity, you could put all trans people here I think. (take my gender knowledge with a grain of salt. I know nothing of this topic)

[Haywire]

I've heard Bi as meaning, "specifically two gender preferences" without regard for what those two are. Under that definition, you could be into any two genders, including nonbinary. 

That's also distinct from Pan, which is, from what I gather, simply that gender doesn't factor into your attractions.

[noparlpf]

The only real difference between bi and pan is one grows down from the ceiling and one grows up from the floor. A handy mnemonic: the letter b points up, the letter p hangs down.

 

Serious answer: There is some overlap between bi and pan but there are also differences. Sexuality is a spectrum and not everything fits perfectly into categories. Some people who identify as bi and some people who identify as pan might describe the same experience. Most people who identify as pan seem to say they're attracted to people of any gender/regardless of gender, ie gender is not a factor at all, and some people who identify as bi define bi exactly the same. Other people who identify as bi say they're attracted to multiple genders but that the way they're attracted to different genders feels different. The whole "bi means two" or "bi enforces the gender binary and excludes nonbinary people" argument falls apart if one doesn't have one's head up one's ass and actually listens to other people. Bisexuals aren't necessarily only attracted to two genders and it's absolutely not limited to cis or binary gender identities; I know several nonbinary bisexuals and a couple of cis bisexuals in relationships with trans or nonbinary partners. I agree that part of it is probably that bi is a slightly older term and pan was adopted later to explicitly sound more inclusive, but bi wasn't really exclusive in the first place and not everybody agreed with just changing the name of an entire sexuality so we ended up where we are now.

 

Simple answer: Don't worry too much what the difference is; just play things safe by not harassing anybody about their sexuality (or its etymology).

[Dia Nicole]

On 6/6/2018 at 8:00 AM, noparlpf said:

Other people who identify as bi say they're attracted to multiple genders but that the way they're attracted to different genders feels different. 

Yes thank you. This is exactly it for me. I grew up with friends who were pan who said that they were pan because gender didn't matter to them and how it didn't ever factor in to how or why they liked someone. But for me I know that I am attracted to people in different ways depending on how they identify themselves to me.