'I like wine, not the label': Celebrating Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness and Visibility day

Pansexuality is the romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction to people regardless of their gender. While pansexual people may be attracted to some people, the gender of the person does not matter.  Panromantic is a romantic orientation where someone is attracted to people of all gender identities. It is similar to pansexuality, but it specifically refers to romantic attraction.

Symbolism of the official flags

The pansexual flags have the colours pink, which represents attraction to women, yellow, which represents attraction to non-binary individuals, including genderqueer, agender, or androgynous individuals, and cyan (light blue), which represents attraction to men. The most commonly used panromantic flag modifies the pansexual flag by including a large heart symbol in the centre.

Pansexual and Bisexual identity politics

Pansexuality and Bisexuality are not identical. Bisexuality refers to attraction to two or more genders, while pansexuality is an attraction to all genders. There are overlaps between them, but there are distinct differences too. For example, a bisexual person may feel attracted to non-binary persons and men but not to women.

However, a pansexual can be attracted to people regardless of their gender. For both sexual orientations, the type of attraction that the person experiences might vary for different genders. For example, the person may feel romantically attracted to one gender but a sexual attraction to another.

Celebrities and representation

Over the past few years, some celebrities have openly discussed their pansexuality, including Monica Dogra, Patruni Sastry, Miley Cyrus, Bella Thorne, and Cara Delevingne.

Cara Delevingne in a conversation with Variety magazine said,  “However one defines themselves, whether it’s ‘they’ or ‘he’ or ‘she,’ I fall in love with the person — and that’s that. I’m attracted to the person.”

Monica Dogra opened up about being queer with Hindustan Times, “I came across several verbiages around pansexuality, and now I think that’s the most real fit for me. I am surprised all the time by what I find beautiful.”

In movies, the most popular character representation would be that of David Rose from Schitt’s Creek. In the Emmy-winning show, David uses a wine analogy to humorously explain pansexuality, saying, “I like wine, not the label”.

Klaus Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy), Deadpool (Deadpool), and Ola (Sex Education) are some other well-known character representations of pansexual people in media.

Stereotypes

Just because someone is pansexual, it does not mean that they are attracted to everyone they meet, just as a straight person isn’t attracted to every man they meet. Pansexuality means having the potential to be attracted to people of any gender. Another common myth is that pansexual people cannot commit to monogamy. Pansexuality is not the same thing as polyamory. Being attracted to people of any gender has no connection to a preference for having multiple partners.

Understanding and respecting complex identities is the way to move forward when it comes to inclusive conversations. People of any gender identity or sexual orientation deserve respect and the right to love. 

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