G&STC’s Director Jesse Kahn Talks with Gabrielle Kassel at Healthline about How to Figure out if Pansexual is the Right Label for You.
Check out G&STC’s Director Jesse Kahn talking with Gabrielle Kassel at Healthline about how to figure out if pansexual is the right label for you.
Like all gender and sexuality identifiers, the definition of pansexual varies based on who’s giving the definition, says Jesse Kahn, LCSW-R, CST, the director and sex therapist at the Gender & Sexuality Therapy Center in New York City.
Remember: Identities are like those Limited Too tanks you might have hoarded as a pre-teen. You can layer them!
You can identify as pansexual *and* other identities. So you might identify as a queer pansexual dyke or pansexual aromantic or nonbinary pansexual. Any combo of gender and sexuality identifiers are up for grabs.
“You’re also allowed to change the language, labels, and words you use to describe yourself throughout your lifetime,” Kahn explains.
New words are always emerging with more nuance and differences, and sexuality also evolves over time, they say. So choosing to identify as pansexual today is not a life-long commitment. Phew.
MORE FROM G&STC DIRECTOR JESSE KAHN ON THIS TOPIC:
Pansexuality means you are attracted to people regardless of their gender. This could mean that someone's gender is not a factor in desiring to date or have sex with, or that gender is irrevelant in terms of attraction. Ultimately, each person may relate to and define their sexuality, including their pansexuality, differently.
It's about what it means to the person and why that word choice is most accurate or meaningful.
Your past dating and sexual history does not need to determine your sexuality. Start by getting curious about who you fantasize about dating and being sexual with, why that is and what that’s influenced by.