Comments on: In Which We Are Geeks

By: almost

almost — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:37:00 +0000

The word bisexual in my mind, and I’ve found, in the minds of the majority of people I come across who aren’t genderqueer, connotes a very dualistic idea of gender. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that most people don’t see a sliding scale as part of that, like Dee said. I like using a term like pansexual or omnisexual because it kind of forces people to consider that there’s more than just Male! and Female!.

By: Richard Evans Lee

Richard Evans Lee — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:11:00 +0000

Back when I first adopted pansexual for myself the only legitimate definition – i.e., dictionary – was in botany. I spent two or three years writing and rewriting my own definition.

The fluidity within one’s self can be lots of fun. Spending the morning marveling at the various ways womens’ breasts are shaped. Falling asleep tickled by the diversity of of penises.

By: Calico

Calico — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:58:00 +0000

Again, great and thoughtful post!

By: maymay

maymay — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:23:00 +0000

"May argues that if we want to get people thinking about the fluidity of gender, the best method lies in talking about gender as a scale."

To be nitpicky, what I said was that the most direct way to get people thinking about gender is to talk about gender instead of talking about sexual orientation, which is what bisexuality, pansexuality, and all of their near-synonyms are.

Talking about sexual orientation is fine, as it is obviously not independant of gender or gender role or gender identity and so on and so forth, but those two concepts (sexual orientation and gender) are distinct for a reason and I find words like pansexuality when used in largely political contexts such as this to be unnecessarily obtuse.

In another life, I was a linguistic surgeon.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:50:00 +0000

Becca-

Hi!!

Dee-

Pan isn't better than bi (or homo, or hetero). Poly isn't better than mono. But both of them fit me better, and in that I'm satisfied.

Yes. I'm the same way. And believe me, we have plenty of disagreements about words. Thay're a lot of fun, in the end.

By: Curvaceous Dee

Curvaceous Dee — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:16:00 +0000

Words are fun, aren't they? I'm glad I'm not the only one who has arguments/disagreements about them, though.

You make a very good point about how different people perceive the word 'bisexual' differently. I didn't think of it as a sliding scale, simply because I didn't used to think of gender as a sliding scale. Sometime over the past few years, however, my perception of gender has changed, and my dissatisfaction with the word 'bisexual' as a label for myself has changed.

Pan isn't better than bi (or homo, or hetero). Poly isn't better than mono. But both of them fit me better, and in that I'm satisfied.

xx Dee

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:45:00 +0000

You're, like, really smart.

That's hot.

I'm going to have to take some time to process all of that!