The UK Kink GuideEvidence-led glossaryAn orientation commonly describing the potential for attraction regardless of gender or across all genders. Individuals determine how gender matters, or does not matter, in their own attraction.
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Identity & diversity
Illustration created using generative AI; not documentary evidence.
In brief
Pansexual, often shortened to pan, is one of several labels for attraction beyond a single gender. It overlaps with bisexuality but is not inherently broader, more inclusive or more modern. Trans and non-binary people can be included in any orientation; they are not a separate test of whether a label is inclusive.
Bi and pan communities and definitions overlap. Some people choose one label for history, community, familiarity or nuance; some use both.
There is no external test that converts one identity into the other. Respect the term and explanation a person offers.
Potential attraction regardless of gender or across genders, according to the person's own meaning.
Potential attraction to more than one gender; it can overlap substantially with pansexuality.
A label some use for attraction to all genders while gender remains noticeable in attraction.
A phrase some pan people use, but not a requirement and sometimes criticised for obscuring lived gender.
For some pan people, gender has little role in whether attraction is possible; for others, attraction spans genders but may still feel different. Pansexuality does not mean attraction to every individual.
Orientation describes a pattern or potential, not indiscriminate availability or absence of preferences.
Pansexuality is not automatically more trans-inclusive than bisexuality, and bisexuality is not restricted to women and men. Framing either label as prejudiced misrepresents many people's identities.
Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary people are not a third category appended to otherwise binary orientations.
A current partner does not determine or narrow pan identity. Pan people may choose any relationship structure or no relationship.
Attraction across genders does not imply promiscuity or universal consent. Boundaries remain individual, specific and current.
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