Pansexuality and Bisexuality go hand in hand in discussions of hyper-sexualization because so many of the assumptions made about these identities are based on the fact that people are attracted to more than one gender. In this discussion of these two, I will refer to both of these identities as bi/pansexuality. Bi/pansexual people exist in a kind of intersection of assumptions. Not only do they deal with bisexual specific assumptions, but the fetishization and desexualization of lesbian relationships and the hyper-sexualization of gay relationships are also applied to same-sex relationships that include bisexual people. However, hyper-sexualization of bi/pansexuality does not depend on gender the same way it does with gay and lesbian relationships.
Bi/pansexual individuals are seen as inherently promiscuous because they are attracted to more than one gender. So, it’s assumed they would have more sex than people who are only attracted to one. Similarly, there is a narrative that bi/pansexual people are more likely to cheat on their partners because they have more options, so to speak. They are also assumed to be polyamorous with the logic being that because they are attracted to more than one gender, they are attracted to more than one person at a time and want to be in more than one relationship at a time.
Same-sex relationships between women are often erased by labeling a couple as “just close friends,” but bi/pansexuality is erased as an identity both within and out of relationships. When a bi/pansexual person gets into a relationship, their identity is disregarded in labeling the relationship as either gay/lesbian or straight. Bi/pansexual people who are in relationships with someone of the opposite binary gender are considered to be straight and no longer part of the LGBTQA community. If they are in same-sex relationships, their attraction to other genders is still erased by labeling those relationships as gay or lesbian without regard to the identities of the people in the relationship.
When bi/pansexual people aren’t in relationships, their identity is still erased. These identities are often characterized by claims that they are just confused, that it’s only experimentation or a phase, and that they should “pick a side” and be either gay or straight. There is also an assumption that bi/pansexuality is a stop on the way to being gay and that the individual is hiding their true identity as ‘completely’ gay or lesbian, or a way to come out without carrying the ‘burden’ or stereotypes associated with being fully gay or lesbian. While sexuality is fluid and often shifts throughout life, and discovering a label for your sexuality is a difficult and lengthy process, bi/pansexuality is a valid and real label to end up on. Bisexuality specifically is often considered to be half-straight and half-gay instead of being understood as a separate and valid identity.
One assumption about bi/pansexuality is that all generations before millennials were either gay or straight, so it only exists within the younger generations. Anyone with any knowledge of queer history knows that this is simply not true, but no amount of historical evidence seems to be able to counteract the prevalence of this notion.
On top of this erasure, bisexual people need to deal with the narrative of bisexuality being inherently transphobic. It is not. Bisexuality describes being attracted to both one’s own gender and other genders. The two groups referred to in the “bi” of bisexuality being the same and others. There is also discussion of the identity being defined as feeling different types of attraction for different genders while pansexuality describes being attracted to multiple genders all in the same way. Some people chose to use the label pansexual in order to be clearer about their attraction to nonbinary genders, but this is not the distinction between the two labels. This discussion will be expounded in a later article (keep your eyes open for that!) but it is worth mentioning here.
LGBTQ+
