Thread by @penelopew_, Once again bi vs pan discourse is happening bc the internet got [...]

Once again bi vs pan discourse is happening bc the internet got bored or something, I don't know. Here's a thread on the history of the terms, some points for each side, and what I think is a direction this conversation should be leading (thread) https://twitter.com/penelopew_/status/1359101113086205954

https://twitter.com/penelopew_/status/1359101113086205954

Firstly, the claim is that "bisexuality is not inclusive of trans people because bi = 2" So unless you're seeing binary trans people as a third gender, they're not involved in this statement

This then begs the question, "what about nonbinary trans people" and yes, this is the source of the claim that bisexuality is transphobic

As I've QT'd in the original post though, the Bisexual Manifesto was written and published in 1990 which explicitly includes both binary and nonbinary trans people, so any claims otherwise are made by people who weren't paying attention

So the conclusion is that bisexuality is not transphobic as people in the community have been talking about nonbinary trans people for at least 30 years and I don't know about you, but I'd consider 30 years of inclusion something not backed out of based on semantics

So let's break down the 2 words and look at their histories but before I do, I want to qualify that these terms were created generally by hetero people when being anything other than hetero was demonised.
I'm also someone who has identified with each but now just use bi/pan

Bisexual was coined in the 19th century and originally meant what we today would define as bigender, not because it was the same as that, but because they had very little understanding of the difference between sexuality and gender

Pansexuality was coined in the early 20th century and originally meant attraction to everything, all ages and species including pedophilia and zoophilia.

It obviously doesn't any more.

So how do we address this today? Both words have deviated from their initial meanings which is fine, language is meant to be flowing. So here are some solutions that people have discussed given that nobody is going concede their identities

Bisexual means the same gender and other genders
Pansexual means all genders

I've seen this one a lot, and it's neat. The problem being that I've only ever seen pansexual people saying it, and then bisexual people being uncomfortable that somebody else is redefining them

Bisexual is an umbrella term
Pansexual is a form of bisexuality

Very neat and clean. Allows for omnisexual people to be included in the umbrella and every other letter of LGBTQIA+ is an umbrella term, neat. I've not heard much objection to this although it's in its infancy

Ultimately the queer rights movement wasn't about making ourselves neat little boxes to fit into, it was about liberation and the freedom to be ourselves

So I want to finish this up by saying, that it doesn't matter. Outside of LGBTQIA+ spaces we have a lot of things that very similar but have multiple names. Why does this have to be so strictly defined?

To give some examples:
-Dinner and tea in the UK
-Potato cakes and scalloped potatoes in Australia
-And in the US pop, soda, and coke
And people are just as passionate about these things

So if you're bisexual, then that's great! If you're pansexual, that's great too!
We can exist side by side, and one's existence should not negate the others

Thanks for reading this far down. I think your hair looks cute by the way

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