At The Trevor Project, we’re always working to create a safer world for LGBTQ youth. Our guide on “How to Support Bisexual Youth: Ways to Care for Bisexual, Pansexual, Fluid, and Queer Youth Who are Attracted to More than One Gender” is an introductory educational resource that covers a wide range of topics and best practices for supporting the bisexual youth in your life, which may include yourself! Educating ourselves is an ongoing practice, and how we define and express identity is an ongoing journey. We are all here to learn!
What is bisexuality?
Bisexuality is a sexual orientation, and bisexual (commonly abbreviated to “bi”) people are those who have the capacity to form attraction and/or relationships to more than one gender. Bisexual advocate Robyn Ochs’ popular definition of bisexuality is, “The potential to be attracted – romantically and/or sexually – to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.” Bisexual people make up a significant portion of queer young people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, bisexual people compromised 75% of young people1 who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Remember, people of any gender can identify as bisexual or be attracted to more than one gender.
Is bisexuality binary?
Some argue that bisexuality reinforces the gender binary because the prefix bi- in bisexual comes from the Greek prefix for “two.” Many words that describe sexuality were originally rooted in the gender binary, due to limited understandings of gender at the time by larger society. (For example: “heterosexuality” has the prefix hetero- which comes from Greek, meaning “the other of two; different.”) However, the historical and cultural definition of the term bisexual has always referred to more than one gender, and the current definition is not specifically binary. Identity definitions are not just literal. They are a part of our ever-evolving language that reflects the diversity of the people using these words.
What about pansexuality?
Some people use the word pansexual to describe their attraction to more than one gender. Pansexuality is defined as an attraction to people of any gender or to people regardless of their gender, with the prefix pan- coming from the Greek prefix for “all.” Some people may use the words bisexual and pansexual interchangeably, and others use only one word exclusively to describe themselves. It’s important to ask what words a person would like to use to describe themselves, rather than assuming or defining for other people. There is no “better” identity term, there is only the best identity term for you.
Other ways to identify
The Trevor Project’s 2019 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that respondents used more than 100 different terms to label their sexuality! Identities like omnisexual, abrosexual, and skoliosexual may also describe a form of attraction to more than one gender, though these identities are not necessarily synonymous or interchangeable with the word bisexual.
Multisexuality refers to all identities that include romantic and/or sexual attraction to people of more than one gender. This is in contrast to monosexuality, which is defined as identities involving attraction to people of a single gender, such as exclusively gay or straight identities. Multisexual identities include:
- Queer refers to an identity that expands outside of heterosexuality. Due to its history as a reclaimed slur and use in political movements, queer still holds political significance.
- Pansexual is an identity term for romantic and/or sexual attraction to people regardless of gender identity or to people of all genders. For some pansexual people, gender is not a defining characteristic of the attraction they feel to others. Other pansexual folks may feel that gender is a significant part of their experience of attraction.
- Omnisexual refers to someone who is attracted to people of all genders, and for whom gender plays an important part of attraction.
- Abrosexual describes one’s sexual attraction that is fluid and constantly changing.
- Skoliosexual is a term that refers to attraction to trans and nonbinary people.
- Fluid refers to someone who experiences changes in their sexual attraction over time and/or depending on the situation. Some people may find that who they are attracted to and/or the intensity of those feelings change over different days or depending on who they are in a relationship with. Remember, while sexuality can be fluid, attempts to forcibly change a person’s sexuality, such as with the discredited practice of conversion therapy, are harmful and ineffective.
Some multisexual people use more than one of these labels. People may share different labels for their identities depending on the context or who they are speaking to. For example, a person may define themselves as bisexual to a relative who is unfamiliar with LGBTQ identities, but further specify their identity as fluid or pansexual when talking to friends within the queer and trans community. Other people may use one label exclusively no matter who they are speaking with. It’s OK to use one label or multiple labels for your identity.
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