@cyprinodont Bisexuality has literally always meant attraction to all genders. It’s our history. Being Bilingual doesn’t mean you only speak two languages, are you saying Pansexuality was born out of people “mistaking” bi for only meaning two genders and not bothering to do research into bisexual history that shows no need for another label to say “attraction to all genders?”
“…the very wealth and humanity of bisexuality itself: for to exclude from one’s love any entire group of human beings because of class, age, or race or religion, or sex, is surely to be poorer — deeply and systematically poorer.”
“It’s easier, I believe, for exclusive heterosexuals to tolerate (and that’s the word) exclusive homosexuals than [bisexuals] who, rejecting exclusivity, sleep with people not genders…”
“Margaret Mead in her Redbook magazine column wrote an article titled ‘Bisexuality: What’s It All About?’ in which she cited examples of bisexuality from the distant past as well as recent times, commenting that writers, artists, and musicians especially ‘cultivated bisexuality out of a delight with personality, regardless of race or class or sex.’” — Janet Bode, “From Myth to Maturation,” View From Another Closet: Exploring Bisexuality in Women (1976)
“Being bisexual does not mean they have sexual relations with both sexes but that they are capable of meaningful and intimate involvement with a person regardless of gender.”
— Janet Bode, “The Pressure Cooker,” View From Another Closet (1976)
“[John] reacted emotionally to both sexes with equal intensity. ‘I love people, regardless of their gender,’ he told me.”
— Charlotte Wolff, “Early Influences,” Bisexuality, a Study (1979)
“In the midst of whatever hardships we [bisexuals] had encountered, this day we worked with each other to preserve our gift of loving people for who they are regardless of gender.”
— Elissa M., “Bi Conference,” Bi Women (1985)
“I believe that people fall in love with individuals, not with a sex… I believe most of us will end up acknowledging that we love certain people or, perhaps, certain kinds of people, and that gender need not be a significant category, though for some of us it may be.” — Ruth Hubbard, “There Is No ‘Natural’ Human Sexuality, Bi Women (1986)
“To be bisexual is to have the potential to be open emotionally and sexually to people as people, regardless of their gender.” — Office Pink Publishing, “Introduction,” Bisexual Lives (1988)
“We made signs and slashes. My favorite read, ‘When it’s love in all its splendor, it doesn’t matter what the gender.’”
— Beth Reba Weise, “Being There and Being Bi: The National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights,” Bi Women (1988)
“Bisexuality is a whole, fluid identity. Do not assume that bisexuality is binary or duogamous in nature: that we have ‘two’ sides or that we must be involved simultaneously with both genders to be fulfilled human beings. In fact, don’t assume that there are only two genders.”
— The Bay Area Bisexual Network, “The 1990 Bisexual Manifesto,” Anything That Moves (1990)
“Bisexuality works to subvert the gender system and everything it upholds because it is not based on gender… Bisexuality subverts gender; bisexual liberation also depends on the subversion of gender categories.” — Karin Baker and Helen Harrison, “Letters,” Bi Women (1990)
“I tell them, whether or not I use the word ‘bisexual,’ that I am proud of being able to express my feelings toward a person, regardless of gender, in whatever way I desire.” — Naomi Tucker, “What’s in a Name?”, Bi Any Other Name (1991)
“Some women who call themselves ‘bisexual’ insist that the gender of their lover is irrelevant to them, that they do not choose lovers on the basis of gender.” — Marilyn Murphy, “Thinking About Bisexuality,” Bi Women (1991)
“As bisexuals, we are necessarily prompted to come up with non-binary ways of thinking about sexual orientation. For many of us, this has also prompted a move toward non-binary ways of thinking about sex and gender.”
— Rebecca Kaplan, “Your Fence Is Sitting on Me: The Hazards of Binary Thinking,” Bisexual Politics (1995)
“I’m bi. That simply means I can be attracted to a person without consideration of their gender.”
— E. Grace Noonan, “Out on the Job: DEC Open to Bi Concerns,” Bi Women (1996)
And “How is changing a name re-defining something” What name are you referring to here? I never claimed to speak for all bisexual people, I’m speaking out on behalf of the ones that don’t appreciate our history and original definition being re-written because people thought and still think bisexuality is a transphobic label. Not to mention a lot of trans people are uncomfortable with a label that goes out of their way to encompass them seeing as LGB identities encompass the ability to hold attraction to nonbinary and trans people. A lot of pansexual people spread the untrue definition of “bi = 2, you cannot be gender-blind and bisexual.” and rightfully so, bisexual people don’t appreciate that.
