Pansexual

Pansexual
The pansexual flag.
Gender(s):	Any
Gender(s) attracted to:	All

An alternate pansexual flag.

Another alternate pansexual flag by Hey All Scott here! on Discord.

The pansexual symbol.

Pansexual (often shortened to pan) is a sexual orientation describing an individual who experiences sexual attraction to individuals regardless of their gender.

Pansexual individuals may instead feel that their sexual attraction is influenced by other factors, such as presentation or personality. While pansexual individuals may have a sexual preference for a certain gender identity, gender is not a factor in their attraction.

Some pansexual individuals may be described as being "gender blind."

Since pansexual individuals experience attraction regardless of gender identity, they effectively experience attraction to all gender identities, which may cause confusion with omnisexuality.

The romantic counterpart to pansexual is panromantic.

Pansexual vs. Other Identities

Pansexuality is often compared against other multisexual-spectrum identities. In particular, it is frequently confused with omnisexual and bisexual as these terms may be used to describe attraction towards all gender identities.

Some pansexual individuals may also identify with or use one or both of these terms, either on top of or instead of pansexual. The choice to use another term comes down to preference. Some individuals may prefer pansexual because it is more specific, while others may prefer terms like bisexual because they are more widely known.

Omnisexual

Omnisexuality describes attraction to all gender identities. Omnisexual individuals may feel attraction differently towards individuals based on the target's gender identity. This may manifest as experiencing attraction differently depending on the target's gender identity.

Pansexual individuals do not view gender as a factor in their attraction and so would not experience the attraction differently based on the target's gender identity, although they may experience attraction differently based on other factors.

Bisexual

Bisexuality describes attraction to two or more gender identities. Some bisexual individuals may be attracted to all genders. In the latter case, the difference between bisexual and pansexual is the same as between omnisexual and pansexual.

Flag and Symbols

The pansexual flag was created in 2010 by shrikeabyssals. The flag's meaning has been loosely defined, but most interpret pink to represent attraction to women, yellow to represent attraction to non-binary individuals, and blue to represent attraction to men.

The second alternate pan flag was designed by Discord user Hey All Scott here! on June 4, 2021.

Another common symbol for pansexuality is the P with an arrow and crossed tail. The cross of the tail represents the cross on the symbol for Venus (♀), used to represent women. The arrow represents the arrow on the symbol for Mars (♂), used to represent men. The symbol predates the flag and is still occasionally used today.

Etymology

The prefix pan- comes from the Greek word for "all" or "every".