Cross-posted from Greta Christina’s Blog.
I’ve been pondering the question of whether I should keep using the word “bisexual” to describe myself, or whether I should start using “pansexual” instead. I wanted to run the pros and cons by y’all and get feedback.
On the one hand: The word “bisexual” feeds into the gender binary, in a way that I don’t feel comfortable with. It implies that either (a) there are only two genders, or (b) there are more than two genders, but I’m only attracted to two of them. Neither of these is correct. I accept the existence of people who don’t identify on a gender binary — and there are non-gender-binary-identifying people who I think are hot. “Pansexual” would be a more respectful word, and it would be more accurate.
About Greta Christina
Greta Christina has been writing professionally since 1989, on topics including atheism, sexuality and sex-positivity, LGBT issues, politics, culture, and whatever crosses her mind. She is author of Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and of Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More, and is editor of Paying For It: A Guide by Sex Workers for Their Clients. She has been a public speaker for many years, and is on the speaker's bureaus of the Secular Student Alliance. Her writing has appeared in multiple magazines and newspapers, including Ms., Penthouse, Chicago Sun-Times, On Our Backs, Skeptical Inquirer and numerous anthologies, including Everything You Know About God Is Wrong and three volumes of Best American Erotica. She is co-founder and co-organizer of Godless Perverts, a performance series and social community that promotes a positive view of sexuality without religion. She lives in San Francisco with her wife, Ingrid. You can email her at gcgreta (at) doubtfulpalace (dot) com, and follow her on Twitter at @GretaChristina.
