Just saw a post that made some good points about bi/pan discourse but also included some absolute bs takes that I wanted to talk about because I see them a lot:
[Image description: a screenshot of a tumblr post reading And to see celebrities like Miley Cyrus straight up saying “I hate the word bisexual because it’s putting me in a box.” Kehlani saying “I’m not bi, I” it cuts off the rest of this quote]
Hmmm okay. That’s not a take I love but i can see it being irritating to have someone feel that way about a label you feel connected to but let’s see what else they had to say
[image description: a screenshot of a tumblr post saying seeing all these pride merchandise for unnecessary “mga” ids like polysexual/omnisexual. Inaccurately redefining]
Hmmmmmm....interesting take. Maybe we should take a look at the bisexual maifesto y’all always tell us to read.
[image descriptions: two screenshots from the bisexual manifesto
The first image is a full page with the title Anything That Moves printed on the top left of the page.
The second image is a close up of part of the page from the previous image. It shows one paragraph that has been highlighted in light blue and purple. The part highlighted in light blue reads “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”.
The part highlighted in purple reads “There are as many definitions of bisexuality as there are bisexuals. Many of us choose not to label ourselves as anything at all, and find the word bisexual to be inadequate and too limiting.”]
This is not to say I agree with the idea that it’s acceptable to say that people who don’t identify with a term or find that term “inadequate” are still that thing, cause that’s incredibly disrespectful of their experiences and not how identity works. But it’s likely phrased like that because bisexual was the only term at the time that people knew to describe attraction to multiple/all genders, but it’s not anymore. And I just find it really interesting when bi people who have an issue with the pan lable, or the way pan people talk about ourselves, try to say “you don’t read the history! You’re ignoring the manifesto” while ignoring the manifesto themselves. The manifesto states that people who are attracted to multiple/all genders may find the term bisexual too limiting and choose not to use it. But apparently that is actually just internalized biphobia nowadays /s.
Similarly, I find the “we define bisexuality uniquely” part of the manifesto very interesting considering how hard so many people are going to say that all people who prefer other terms are “redefining bisexuality” as if the manifesto doesn’t say there is no clear cut definition. If labels can change and language can evolve overtime why are so many arguments against identities other than bisexual “you’re ignoring the history/definition/defining it wrong/we don’t need other labels”? Maybe you don’t need other labels.
I get that there are a lot of shitty definitions of bi and pan floating around but that isn’t the fault of pan people exclusively. How many bisexuals over the decades have defined their sexuality as “attraction to men and women”? Approximately a metric fuckton. Even if that’s not the only definition of bisexuality, you cannot blame only people outside of your community for that definition being spread.
And most people who panphobes are mad at for using terms like pan/omni would probably just call ourselves queer or say we don’t want labels otherwise. Like this shit always reeks of “all afab nonbinary people are actually just gnc women who don’t understand women’s history and have internalized misogyny” style logic and I’m so fucking sick of this conversation getting bogged down by it. It’s possible to talk about the parts of these terms history that have contributed to biphobia without being a hypocrite in order to shit talk pan/mspec people for not identifying the way you want us to.
(Manifesto screenshots and highlighting credit to @a-place-to-be-panace)
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