Pansexuality: It’s Not Just Another Label
We’ve heard it said again and again that ‘labels belong on cans, not on people’. Many times we cry out that we have been wronged when a label or stereotype is slapped on our foreheads. Yet, are we not all guilty of a double standard here? We all use labels everyday. I do agree that in some instances labels are used out of bias, fear or hatred. But for the most part, labels are useful and even necessary to help us with understanding the world in which we live. We use labels to distinguish things, to catalog items. Labels help us to tell the difference between ‘this’ and ‘that’. Whether it’s a person, an inanimate object, a political ideology, a religious belief or a lifestyle choice, everything has a label. For example, look at this statement: “I went to the baseball game.” Do you see any labels in that sentence? Off hand, I see at least three. “I”, “baseball” and “game”. In this context, I doubt any of us would make the accusation that an improper judgement is being made here. Can you imagine trying to function day-to-day without labels? That would be maddening. If you went to the market and there were no labels on the cans, how would you know what’s inside? Labels in and of themselves are not bad, evil or insulting. (Even the word ‘label’ is a label.) Labels are simply definitions.
One label you may or may not have heard of is ‘pansexual’. According to Merriam-Webster, the term dates back to 1926. (No source is provided to back up that claim.) However, Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis, theorized that all human behavior is based on sexuality.[1] So it may be that he or one of his contemporaries coined the term ‘pansexual’.
So, what is that? What/who is a pansexual? What is pansexuality? The Oxford-English dictionary defines ‘pansexual’ as:
“not limited or inhibited in sexual choice with regard to gender or activity.”[2]
There is a lot of debate about this term ‘pansexual’. Some claim that it means the same thing as ‘bisexual’. Some say that this word expresses a viewpoint that is hostile towards the LGBT community. And others say that the term ‘pansexual’ is used by those that are afraid of taking a stand and publicly announcing that they are gay/bi. Here is a description that, in my humble opinion, best answers my earlier questions: “Pansexuality is a sexual orientation that encompasses all genders and sexes. Pansexuals engage in romantic and sexual relationships with men, women, transsexuals, transgenders, and intersex people. They are often confused with bisexuals, who are attracted to both men and women. Pansexuals, however, are gender-blind and become involved with people from all different places on the gender and sexuality spectrums.”[3]
The root word of ‘pansexual’ is ‘pan’, which is Greek, meaning ‘all’. Therefore, we can say that ‘pan-sexual’ means ‘all-sexual’. Does this mean that a pansexual person likes or participates in every sexual act under the sun? No, not at all. Nor does it mean that a pansexual is addicted to sex or is a nymphomaniac/satyromaniac. It speaks more to personality and not to activity. ‘All’/’Pan’ in the Greek language is a reference only to human genders. That means that a pansexual person’s sexuality is not based on gender, but rather on the person. A pansexual person’s romantic or sexual preferences are not restricted by labels of he, she, lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, etc.. However, a pansexual person is not necessarily attracted romantically or sexually to all people. Nor does a pansexual person give their acceptance to all sexual behaviors or paraphilias/fetishes.[4]
Pansexuals are much like anyone else. We have differing interests and likes. People we may or may not be attracted to will vary. Our sexual proclivities will cover a broad spectrum. These sexual interests begin like they do for anyone else, when we are children. Children are born polimorphoperverse[5], which means that their sexual identity is undefined. This comes with a curiosity which leads them to play with their mothers, touch their genitals, masturbate and investigate their excretia. This curiosity continues through adolescence, puberty and into young adulthood. Along the way, individual sexual tendencies become more clearly defined. Factors that contribute to a person’s sexual identity go beyond personality, likes and dislikes. Many times, we are defined or limited by the values and laws of our parents, our community and our country.[6] Although there are many options available when it comes to sex and sexuality, those labeled as ‘illegal’ or ‘immoral’ or ‘taboo’ carry with them a stigmatism that would cause the majority to cast shame or place guilt. Please understand that I am not endorsing in any way sexual activities such as pedophilia or rape. There may have been instances in the history of the world where such practices were deemed normal and acceptable. We do not live in those times or cultures today.
That being said, it is still very important that we have the freedom to investigate our pansexuality tempered with common sense. It has been argued that the repression of natural human sexual instincts, whether by laws or prejudice or narrow-mindedness, can in some cases lead to antisocial and/or violent behavior.[7] For the pansexual, this freedom is expressed by an all-embracing love based on the philosophy that human sexuality should be directed towards all people, regardless of their gender or sexual identity.[8] This freedom should not and does not ever give us the right to impose, infringe or injure another human being. “Don’t do to others that which you would not have them do to you” or, if you prefer, “And if it harm none, do what ye will”.
Pansexuals, along with Lesbians, Gays, Bi’s and Transgenders, cannot and should not be pigeon-holed with strict black and white terms. Imagine each one as a circle. And each circle is a particular color. If we were to draw these colored cirles on a sheet of paper, the very nature of each circle would suggest that there would be overlapping areas (like a Venn diagram). In the end, instead of only black and white, we have a mulitude of colors with new colors being made where one circle joins with another.[9]
Cited Sources:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
2. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pansexual?region=us
3. http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/pansexuality
4. http://lgbt.wikia.com/wiki/Pansexuality
5. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polymorphous+perverse
6. http://www.pansexuality.it/Inglese/testi_inglese/theory_pansexuality.htm
7. http://www.speakingtree.in/public/ao6msdk0v6d2lfbaemja8g8u/blog/REPRESSED-SEXUALITY
8. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Human_sexuality
9. http://www.bisexualindex.org.uk/index.php/Bisexuality#binary
Additional Sources:
Satyromania - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/satyromania
Paraphilias - http://lgbt.wikia.com/wiki/Paraphilia
Hypersexuality - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersexuality
Etymology of ‘Pansexual’ - http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pansexual
Pansexuality - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansexuality
“The Sexual Instinct” - http://www.archive.org/stream/sexualinstinctit00scotuoft/sexualinstinctit00scotuoft_djvu.txt
Antisocial Personality Style and Disorder - http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/person/asp.html
