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Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and Transgender Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health
Published in Jane M. Ussher, Joan C. Chrisler, Janette Perz, Routledge International Handbook of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2019
Bisexuality has been a contested sexual identity, marginalised and even “erased” in decades of research as merely a phase or transitional identity (Monro, Hines, & Osborne, 2017). However, bisexuality is an identity in its own right, and bisexual people can feel ostracised both from heterosexual and lesbian and gay communities (Hayfield, Clarke, & Halliwell, 2014). They face accusations of confusion, immaturity, untrustworthiness, and promiscuity. These experiences influence the physical and mental health of bisexual people. So, although all LBQ women have higher risk than heterosexuals of mental health issues related to experiences of discrimination and violence, bisexual women are even more disadvantaged (Ross et al., 2016). However, researchers have started to identify positive aspects of bisexuality, including freedom of sexual expression and acceptance of diversity (Rostosky, Riggle, Pascale-Hague, & McCants, 2010). Reframing bisexuality as a secure sexual identity for some and a sexual expression for others may begin to overcome the stigma and inequalities that arise. Further, there is an increasing array of non-binary sexual identities including pansexuality and queer that emphasise the fluid nature of sexuality (Callis, 2014).
Comparing Pansexual- and Bisexual-Identified Participants on Demographics, Psychological Well-Being, and Political Ideology in a New Zealand National Sample
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2019
Lara M. Greaves, Chris G. Sibley, Gloria Fraser, Fiona Kate Barlow
There has been increasing interest in the characteristics of those with plurisexual (i.e., attracted to more than one gender) identities. The most common term, bisexual, is typically defined as an attraction to two genders, where gender is conceptualized as a binary (men and women) or as an umbrella term for those attracted to more than one gender (Flanders, 2017; Galupo, Lomash, & Mitchell, 2017). In contrast, pansexuality refers to attraction toward people independent of their assigned sex, gender identity, or gender expression (Belous & Bauman, 2017; Galupo, Ramirez, & Pulice-Farrow, 2017; Rice, 2015). Use of this term to describe one’s sexual identity indicates an active rejection of the gender binary and attraction to gender-diverse individuals (i.e., noncisgender: people who identify as a gender which does not align with their assigned sex at birth or identify with a gender outside of the gender binary; see Serano, 2007). Given that pansexuality is still an emerging identity (Belous & Bauman, 2017), little work has tested for differences between pansexuals and bisexuals, and no work has been done on mental health or political differences, let alone in a nationally representative sample. Thus, in this article we examine differences between self-identified pansexuals (n = 52) and bisexuals (n = 497) in a national probability sample found in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS).
Monosexism as an Additional Dimension of Minority Stress Affecting Mental Health among Bisexual and Pansexual Individuals in Hong Kong: The Role of Gender and Sexual Identity Integration
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2023
Randolph C. H. Chan, Janice Sin Yu Leung
While prior studies have shown that numerous similarities in patterns of attraction and sexual behaviors exist between cisgender bisexual and pansexual individuals, bisexuality and pansexuality are recognized as separate, distinct plurisexual categories (Morandini et al., 2017; Timmins et al., 2021). Bisexuality refers to attraction toward two or more genders (Cipriano et al., 2022; Flanders et al., 2017), while pansexuality is defined as attraction toward others regardless of gender expression, gender identity, and sex (Rice, 2015).
Bisexuality, pansexuality, queer identity, and kink identity
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2018
Richard A. Sprott, Bren Benoit Hadcock
Bisexuality, pansexuality, and queer identity are all sexual orientations characterized, to varying degrees, by attraction to more than one sex or gender (Gonel, 2013). Of the three terms, bisexuality has the simplest definition, and at a basic level may be understood as a sexual orientation based upon sexual behavior with or attraction to both males and females (Esterberg, 2016). Individuals who identify as bisexual may not necessarily experience equal attraction to both sexes however, so some bisexuals may also describe themselves as mostly heterosexual, mostly homosexual, or evenly attracted to both (Esterberg, 2016). The word pansexual derives from the Latin root pan-, meaning “all,” and is defined by attraction to individuals or to all genders and sexes (Gonel, 2013). Individuals who identify as pansexual may experience attraction not only to cis males2 and cis females, but also to transgender, intersex, or non-binary gendered individuals (Callis, 2016). Pansexuality may therefore be understood as a non-binary sexual orientation, since it acknowledges attraction to individuals outside the gender binary, whose gender and/or sexual characteristics may be a combination of both male and female, or neither male nor female (Callis, 2016). By nature of its inclusiveness, pansexuality undermines the assumption that sexual orientation must be organized around gender or biological sex at all. Making that challenge even more explicit, queer sexual orientation is the broadest and least clearly defined of the three sexual identities discussed in this paper. At the most basic level, queer identity may be understood as non-heteronormative identity. While many individuals who identify as queer experience attraction to more than one gender or sex, the label queer is intentionally ambiguous, deconstructionist, and individualistic, so it is impossible to make concrete assumptions about queer individuals' sexual behaviors or attraction (Callis, 2016).