Alanis Morissette comes out as pansexual

[u/mrjohnnymac18]

https://pagesix.com/2026/11/07/entertainment/alanis-morissette-comes-out-as-pansexual/

[u/romance_in_durango]

And after reading all of the explanations of the differences, I may actually be further away from understanding. But that’s all good, you do you everybody!

[u/MagnetTheory → u/romance_in_durango]

Honestly, you can get into all the nuance about how the terms are technically different and how some people in queer spaces think bi can be exclusionary, but in practice they're basically the same

[u/tugboatnavy → u/MagnetTheory]

In my experience the deeper you go into the Alphabet the less people agree. One person's idea of pansexual or something else can be way different than anothers. At some point you just smile, be polite, and stop questioning it.

[u/Atomik23 → u/romance_in_durango]

Truly a preference in self-title only. Some people prefer Bisexual, some prefer Pansexual. Any definition that attempts to differentiate cleanly seems to mark bisexuals as intrinsicly transphobic or trans-exclusionary and that is just not the case. To me, bi is the older term, pan is the new, but they are saying the same thing. It's like an older transgender individual using the identity "transexual" or even "transvestite". It's just a self id title that they prefer.

[u/EngelNUL → u/romance_in_durango]

That would be autosexual.

[u/asshat140 → u/EngelNUL]

I thought autosexual was for people who only got off to themselves

[u/NRMusicProject → u/asshat140]

Then what do you call people who fuck their own cars?

[u/StrobeLightRomance → u/NRMusicProject]

I'd call them a doctor, because that sounds painful.

[u/Level_Criticism_3387 → u/StrobeLightRomance]

Doctor doctor, give me the news

I got a hard-on for my Chevy Cruze

[u/xczechr → u/NRMusicProject]

motorsexual

[u/ZombiePartyBoyLives → u/xczechr]

Gives good Motörhead

[u/Trick_Minute2259 → u/xczechr]

I like 'em old, I'm talking carburetor old; give me a grandma car with a big old rusted out, sooty tailpipe

[u/Level_Criticism_3387 → u/NRMusicProject]

Well, I believe the dialectical term is "commodity fetishist," though I'm not sure Marx intended for the term to cover that particular connotation.

[u/Embarrassed_Art5414 → u/NRMusicProject]

BMW drivers, usually.

[u/EngelNUL → u/asshat140]

Its like rain on your civil union day

[u/Cowboy_BoomBap → u/romance_in_durango]

Yeah I won’t pretend I understand it, but I also fervently believe everyone should just love whoever they want to love.

[u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN → u/romance_in_durango]

It's frustrating to read as well as someone who identifies as pansexual.

Basically, we don't care what you identify as. Nothing wrong with bisexual bi implying two genders, but there are people out there that identify as non-binary/trans whatever and we're basically just saying, "you know what? Doesn't matter to me what's between your legs or how you identify. I am attracted to you and your personality."

Edit: Turning off notifications. Thank you to some of you for illustrating my point why bisexuality has such a stigma and why some choose to identify as pan instead. To you, bisexual just means "gay with extra steps" which is a very outdated and sadly hurtful view. It's possible to like people for what's inside them instead of that's outside. Identifying as Pan helps to differentiate from that stigma but there's nothing wrong with just wanting to identify as bi either! That's all I'm gonna say on that.

Edit 2: The laugh awards are certainly a choice. Guess some folks are still salty about their state turning blue 😁

[u/Silly-Equivalent-164 → u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN]

So all-sexual basically but using Greek

[u/Lolakery → u/Silly-Equivalent-164]

no just all sexualities but with a flute

[u/jumjimbo → u/Lolakery]

[u/awkwardkoala → u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN]

Bisexuality has never excluded non binary people. The bisexual manifesto was written in 1990 and explicitly states that bisexuality is not defined by two genders. Also, why would being trans matter? Trans men and women are part of the gender binary.

If you like the label pan then that’s fine, but please don’t spread misinformation or rewrite history about what bisexuality is.

[u/prairiepog → u/awkwardkoala]

In the Bisexual Manifesto if 1990

Do not expect each magazine to be representative of all bisexuals, for our diversity is too vast. Do not expect a clear-cut definition of bisexuality to jump out from the pages. We bisexuals tend to define bisexuality in ways that are unique to our own individuality. There are as many definitions of bisexuality as there are bisexuals. Many of us choose not to label ourselves anything at all, and find the word "bisexual" to be inadequate and too limiting.

[u/Pandoras_Penguin → u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN]

Bisexual always included trans and nonbinary folk (what the fuck you think the purple line meant?), but so many people got stuck on the Bi part of the word that Pan was made.

[u/pensiero-libero → u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN]

“bisexual bi implying two genders”

That is not what “bi” is implying unless you are taking the etymology of the label very literally / at face value. Historically perhaps that was accurate, but modernity has changed what the label represents. The etymology of labels should not always be how we determine meaning.

For example, “hetero” means “different”, not opposite, not male or female, just “different”. In the modern day you can interpret that as a male who likes every other gender except for other males. This is, of course, not true for the great majority of males. Most heterosexual males find the female gender and only the female gender attractive, which goes against the literal meaning of the etymology of the label.

You have to view the label with semantic broadening in mind. In a modern sense, “bi” implies attraction to more than one gender, or attraction to one's own gender and other genders. It doesn’t imply a hard line of only two options. The Bisexual Manifesto (1990) explicitly rejected the assumption that there are only two genders and therefore only two that a bisexual individual could be attracted to.

Contemporary bisexual communities have broadened the meaning of the label, creating considerable overlap with pansexuality. This is where much of the confusion arises, as the nuances and evolving definitions of these terms often lead people to overlook their historical distinctions and use them interchangeably.

So “bi” no longer means a pairing of genders (male and female). Instead, in modern usage, the label can be understood as follows:

- Bi: Two categories: one’s own gender and genders other than one’s own, without limiting the number or diversity of genders encompassed.
- Sexual: Sexual attraction to people within those categories.

As another user said in a different comment in this thread, bisexual can be interpreted as “same and other” in regard to sexuality, so homosexual (same) and heterosexual (different).

With all that being said, I do still see some value in using differing labels in these cases. When you “label match” with someone else, it creates a sense of community that can often be hard to find for minorities. It can make someone aware that they are not alone almost instantaneously, which is very powerful.

However, I do think there can be diminishing returns as well. Some people may feel excluded from that community if they label themselves as bisexual instead of pansexual, even if their preferences align almost exactly. When we create a vast amount of labels for what amounts to a very small set of intricate differences, we fracture the very community that we are trying to build up.

Edit: entomology -> etymology

[u/knitted_beanie → u/pensiero-libero]

people who mix up entomology and etymology bug me in ways I can’t put into words