There's a fourth choice???

[Cicero]

asexual = no attraction to either gender.

pansexual = gender doesn't factor any more than a person's hair colour, making gender a non factor. Contrast this with bisexual, which still strongly recognises gender, and the person's feelings towards each are distinct.

Precisely speaking, gender shouldn't be relevant to sexual orientation, only sex. There may be additional levels of gender orientation, but heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual and asexual should be sufficient to describe sexual attraction between non-intersex persons:

Heterosexual: attracted to the opposite sex
Bisexual: attracted to both sexes
Homosexual: attracted to the same sex
Asexual: attracted to neither sex

There are, of course, many degrees between these.

 

[Jadzia]

Heterosexual: attracted to the opposite sex
Bisexual: attracted to both sexes
Homosexual: attracted to the same sex
Asexual: attracted to neither sex

There are, of course, many degrees between these.

But to a pansexual, this would be as absurd as saying this:

option 1: attracted to people with the same eye colour as oneself.
option 2: attracted to people with the opposite eye colour as oneself.
option 3: attracted to people with either eye colour.
option 4: not attracted to neither eye colour.

pansexuals do not classify/distinguish people by sex. The way they feel towards primary/secondary sexual characteristics is the same way you feel towards eye colour.

Bisexuals, (by some definition) are aroused by both male and female primary/secondary sexual characteristics, so pansexuals cannot be bisexual.

So are pansexuals asexual? No, because they are sexually attracted to people.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Maybe the Captain Jack character (from Doctor Who/Torchwood) is pansexual rather than bisexual?

 

[bigdaddy]

Omnisexual. Be it animal, vegetable, or mineral.

Isn't that what Captain Jack is?

Pansexual and transexual are the other two I think of.

I'm curious to why anyone is asking. The only time it should matter is if you are living in a dorm and you don't want to be a gay guy paired up with a crazy Christian cunt.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have been looking at some web pages and have found Captain jack described as bisexual, pansexual and ominisexual depending on the website.

 

[Cicero]

Heterosexual: attracted to the opposite sex
Bisexual: attracted to both sexes
Homosexual: attracted to the same sex
Asexual: attracted to neither sex

There are, of course, many degrees between these.

But to a pansexual, this would be as absurd as saying this:

option 1: attracted to people with the same eye colour as oneself.
option 2: attracted to people with the opposite eye colour as oneself.
option 3: attracted to people with either eye colour.
option 4: not attracted to neither eye colour.

pansexuals do not classify/distinguish people by sex. The way they feel towards primary/secondary sexual characteristics is the same way you feel towards eye colour.

Bisexuals, (by some definition) are aroused by both male and female primary/secondary sexual characteristics, so pansexuals cannot be bisexual.

So are pansexuals asexual? No, because they are sexually attracted to people.

I would think that classifying persons by attraction to sexes would seem less absurd to a pansexual person than would classification by eye color, if only because of the prevalence of sex-based attraction in sexual species. Eye color is a poor predictor of species-level behavior.

The reason for a particular individual's attraction to members of the opposite sex, same sex, or both or neither sexes isn't relevant to the fact that the individual is attracted (or not) to persons of the opposite sex, same sex, or both or neither sexes, even if the reason is indifference to which sex a person belongs to.

It's my understanding that pansexuality refers to gender-indifference as well as (or perhaps as importantly as) sex-indifference in attraction. Without that additional factor, their would be no reason to differentiate it as a subset of bisexuality (another subset of bisexuals would be persons who are attracted to both sexes but only to specific genders*).

*Considering the socially constructed aspect of gender, I don't know that such distinctions are particularly important; I speak, though, as someone who has never really caught on to gender roles. I suppose were I to describe a preference it would be for a "solider" gender - i.e. mission/purpose first. Sexually, however, I'm attracted only to (very few) females; a friend once described me as a -2 on the Kinsey scale.

I have been looking at some web pages and have found Captain jack described as bisexual, pansexual and ominisexual depending on the website.

All three definitions are correct. He's attracted to persons of both sexes (thus bisexual) and doesn't, so far as I know, consider gender relevant when determining whether they he is sexually attracted to someone (thus pansexual and omnisexual; the terms are synonymous).

 

[Captain Ice]

asexual
hermaphrodite
"Hi, I'm Jack Harkness"