What is Pansexuality? Pansexuality is a sexual orientation describing a person who is attracted to all types of people, regardless of their sex or gender.1 The term “pansexuality,” sometimes referred to as omnisexuality, has its roots in the Greek prefix pan-, meaning “all” or “every” coming together as one.2 When combined with the suffix, –sexual, describing one’s…
Tag: Transgender
Overview of Sexual Orientations
Sexual orientation is a term that describes a person’s sexual, emotional, or romantic attraction, as well as the gender(s) of the people they are attracted to.1, 2 Sexual orientation differs from gender identity in that gender identity describes a person’s psychological identification with a particular gender, rather than their attraction to people. The Kinsey Scale—developed…
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Sex, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity are commonly confused terms often used inconsistently and interchangeably. However, there are important distinctions between these ideas that involve both biological and social factors. The complex interaction between them influence a person’s identity, sexual attraction, emotional attraction, and gender expression as the iconic image of the “Genderbread Person”…
The Kinsey Scale
Contrary to popular belief, sexuality is not binary. Sexual orientation is not limited to the two categories of heterosexual and homosexual. Rather, there is a whole spectrum of sexuality and people may fall in between certain categories or change their minds over time. Biologist and sexologist Alfred C. Kinsey captures this idea with his seven-point…
LGBTQ Rights in the U.S.
Disclaimer: This article discusses the modern legal stances on LGBTQ+ rights. Here at SexInfo, we are not legal professionals. We also recognize that sexual orientation goes beyond lesbian, gay, and bisexual; in addition, gender identity goes beyond cisgender, transgender, and non-binary. We use these identities to remain concise and applicable to the identities mentioned in…
Asexuality
Sexuality exists on a continuum, and not within a dichotomy of heterosexual and homosexual. Thus, there are many different types of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation describes a person’s preferences for whom they find emotionally, romantically, and sexually attractive. One type of sexual orientation is asexuality, or the lack of sexual attraction to individuals of any gender. For example, someone might…
Homosexuality and Religion
Disclaimer: In this article, for the sake of simplicity and consistency, we will be using the term “homosexual” as a blanket term to represent all queer, bisexual, pansexual, questioning, and other non-heterosexual orientations. If you would like to learn more, you can read our Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity article. If you need resources or…
Genderqueer
The word “genderqueer” is a term used to describe one whose gender identity does not necessarily fit within the male/female gender binary. Gender identity is an inner sense and experience of one’s gender, whether male-identifying, female-identifying, trans*, or non-binary.1 Though many individuals identify with the male or female labels, others reject this strict gender binary. Some identify with specific labels on the spectrum of…