What is the difference between pansexual and demisexual

A person who identifies as asexual does not experience sexual attraction, but they may engage in sexual activity, either as masturbation or with a partner. The asexual spectrum includes people who have little or no sexual attraction, with degrees of attraction varying across the spectrum. According to the Demisexual Resource Center , this spectrum has asexuality at one end and nonasexuality at the other.

Demisexuality falls somewhere in the middle of this spectrum because a demisexual person feels very little sexual attraction toward others. The key difference is that demisexual people can feel sexual attraction and a desire to have sex once they have developed an emotional bond with another person.

Read more about asexuality here. Gray-a or gray asexuality, like demisexuality, is on the asexual spectrum. Unlike demisexuality, though, a person who identifies as gray-a experiences infrequent or less intense sexual attraction or desire to engage in sexual activities.

According to GLAAD , an organization that works to promote transgender acceptance and rights, a person who is gray-a may feel sexual attraction due to any number of different circumstances. While gray-asexual and demisexual people both experience sexual attraction infrequently, the key difference here is that gray-asexual people do not necessarily require an emotional bond to feel sexual attraction.

Gray-a is a very inclusive sexual orientation, meaning that there are a lot of ways in which a person could identify themselves as gray-a. According to the Demisexual Resource Center , a person can define gray-a however they choose. Demisexuality is also similar to sapiosexuality in some ways. The main similarity is that a person who identifies as sapio has a limited number of people to whom they may be attracted, as does a demisexual person.

The major difference, however, is that a person who identifies as sapiosexual is attracted to intelligence or the mind of the other person. Here, the emotional bond is not the crucial factor. The authors of a recent study that investigated whether IQ specifically was the most attractive trait for sapiosexuals concluded that it was not the most important factor. According to the findings of this study, subjective intelligence seemed to be more important than objective intelligence, which is what an IQ test measures.

A person who identifies as pansexual can be sexually attracted to anyone, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, or sexual identity. The level of attraction that they feel toward people of different gender identities may vary. A person who identifies as allosexual typically feels sexual attraction toward other people. They may also want to have sex with a partner. People who identify with this orientation may also identify with another sexuality, such as being gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

People who consider themselves androsexual feel attraction toward men, males, or perceived masculinity irrespective of whether or not they were assigned male at birth. For example, a person may not be romantically attracted to people but can be sexually attracted to some. Some people may experience no sexual or romantic attraction to anyone, while others may experience varying degrees of sexual or romantic attraction to people.

Similarly to those who are autoromantic, people who are autosexual may also experience sexual attraction to other people. People who identify as bicurious are interested in having a sexual or romantic experience with someone of the same gender.

The term indicates that the person experiences some uncertainty as to how they identify romantically or sexually. People who identify as biromantic feel romantic, but not necessarily sexual, attraction to more than one gender.

Bisexuality means that a person feels attraction toward their own gender and other genders or toward anyone regardless of their gender. People who identify as demiromantic usually do not feel romantic attraction to people with whom they do not have a strong emotional bond.

A person who identifies as demisexual typically only feels sexual attraction toward a person with whom they have already established a strong emotional bond. Some people who are demisexual may have no interest or only a slight interest in sexual activity. Learn more about demisexuality here. A person who identifies as gay typically only feels sexual attraction toward people of the same gender. Socially, people use this term to refer to men who are romantically and sexually attracted to men.

However, those in the community use it as an umbrella term. People who identify as gynesexual feel sexual attraction toward women, females, and perceived femininity irrespective of whether or not they were assigned female at birth. Those who are heteromantic may experience romantic attraction, but not necessarily sexual attraction, to those of a different gender.

Homoromantic refers to people who are romantically attracted to those of a similar gender to their own. You can simultaneously identify as demisexual and graysexual or demisexual and asexual. As mentioned before, demisexual people might identify as asexual, graysexual, or allosexual. Sexuality and orientation are fluid.

You might find your capacity for sexual attraction shifts over time. For example, you might go from being allosexual to being graysexual to being asexual. Interestingly, the Asexual Census found that over 80 percent of its respondents identified as another orientation before they identified as asexual, which demonstrates how fluid sexuality can be.

In relationships, demisexual people might or might not choose to have sex. To some demisexual people, sex might not be important in relationships. Some might choose to wait until they feel close enough to their partner, and some might opt out altogether. Some might have sex with their partner without feeling sexually attracted to their partner. Every demisexual person is different. So, a demisexual person might have an emotional bond with someone and feel sexually attracted to them, but not necessarily want a romantic relationship with that person.

The words used to describe these feelings include:. This includes demisexual people who may also identify as asexual or graysexual. And yes, it can feel enjoyable for them. Again, every person is unique, and what one demisexual person enjoys might not be what another person enjoys.

Of course, there are no right or wrong answers. It negates or denies any instability or fluidity. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy summarizes this idea neatly:. Individuals internalize the norms laid down by the sciences of sexuality and monitor themselves in an effort to conform to these norms.

The new terms for sexual orientations similarly infiltrate the political discourse on sexuality, and individuals then define themselves accordingly. William Wilkerson, a philosophy professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville who focuses on gender studies, says this is the distinctive feature of sexual identities today. In the past, he points out, there were plenty of different sexual interests, but these were presented as desires rather than intrinsic identities.

The identities that originated in earlier decades—such as bears, leather daddies, and femme and butch women—are deeply influenced by lifestyle and appearance. Contemporary identities, such as gynosexual or pansexual, suggest nothing about appearance or lifestyle, but are entirely defined by intrinsic sexual desire.