Recently Bella Thorne and Janelle Monae have come out as pansexual, you may have first heard the term back in 2016 when Miley Cyrus came out. Shorty after her step out of the closet pansexuality became Merriam-Websters top searched dictionary word. However, despite the bump in searches for it many people still aren’t sure what the difference is between pansexual and bisexual. So much so that Amandla Stenberg (Rue from the hunger games) identifies as bisexual despite being pansexual just because people are unfamiliar with it.

So what is it?

Pan is a Greek prefix meaning “all.” Pansexuality describes someone who is attracted, either emotionally, physically or both,  to people of all genders, beyond the parameters of male and female. People who are pan want to expressly communicate that gender and gender expression does not factor into their sexuality, that they can be attracted to trans, gender non-binary, and cisgender identities.

How is it different than Bisexual?

bisexuality is often used to refer to people who are attracted to both men and women, the term has evolved. Currently, bisexuality can also describe a person with both homosexual (same sex) and heterosexual (opposite sex) attractions. So while PANsexuals are attracted to people of all genders binary or not because their attraction is without regard to gender, BIsexuals tend to primarily only feel sexually attracted to the two traditional genders, however they do not necessarily have to be cis gendered.

Pansexuals are not the same as Pangendered

While you can be both, gender and sexuality are two different things. Just because someone identifies as Pansexual does not make them Pangendered. Pangender is a non-binary gender defined as being more than one gender. A pangender person may consider themselves a member of all genders. Pangender individuals may identify with gender inclusive or gender-neutral pronouns instead of gendered ones.

If you still aren’t sure if you are Bisexual or Pansexual this wikihow suggests they can help you figure it out in 3 easy steps. If only all of sex and sexuality could be that simple!