Pansexuality (often shortened to pan) is the attraction to people regardless of gender, and as a result, they are attracted to all genders. Pansexual people may be described as being "gender blind" showing that gender is not a factor in their attraction to a person.
Pansexuality is often compared to bisexuality, omnisexuality, or other multisexual identities. While those sexualities may be attracted to all or many genders, they typically feel a difference between genders. This can manifest in having a preference for certain gender(s). It can also manifest as feeling like the act of being attracted to a certain gender feels different than the act of being attracted to other genders. (For example, a bisexual person may feel like the act of being attracted to a woman feels different then being attracted to a man, though they do not have preference for men or women.) Omnisexuals and other mulitsexuals may also find certain traits only attractive on certain genders.
Pansexuality, on the other hand, does not feel any internal difference between genders or feels like any difference felt between genders is irrelevant. Although, some pansexual people may still have a gender preference, this is not caused by an internal difference felt in attraction, or is so minor that one feels it is irrelevant.
The romantic counterpart is panromantic.
Flag and Other Symbols
The pansexual flag was created in 2010[1] and consists of three stripes: pink, representing attraction to women, yellow representing attraction to non-binary people, and blue, representing attraction to men.
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".