Poly-what?

How many times have you heard the following:

“I’m polyamorous. I like everyone!“

“I’m polysexual. I date anyone!“

yet…

“I only date X, Y, Z people.“

or my all-time favorite

“I’m pansexual! But won’t date …”

First, let’s go into the definitions of each word

Poly (clothing, many, polyester)

Polyamorous (multiple dating partners)

Polyamory (see polyamorous)

polysexual (many, but not everyone)

pansexual (meaning anyone, regardless of gender, color, background, etc)

So what does this mean?

If you’re legit pansexual, that means you’re attracted to any/everyone. No judging, no nitpicking, no “but I…” this means you date anyone, regardless. Failure to accept this means you’re not pansexual.

If you’re attracted to a specific type, but not everyone, you’re in the polysexual category.

If you’re attracted to your own gender, and the opposite, you’re bisexual.

You get the idea.

Normally I stay out of people’s personal life, and whatever people claim to be doesn’t bother me since there’s more important matters at hand (COVID). At the same time, people tend to call themselves a part of something to only later realize they aren’t who they say they are. I’m not here to judge, I’m not here to tell someone they can’t be what they believe they are; this is to inform the persons involved to know what they are claiming before speaking. If you have any modifiers in who you’re attracted to, you’re not pansexual.

This is more for education on both sides (listener and the one claiming to belong to something). When in doubt, an acceptable answer is “depends on who’s asking and who’s involved.”

Again, this is not an attack on anyone, but pure information.