What am I supposed to do?!

[Andi B]

Okay. I have recently found out I am in fact pansexual, but my parents don't know about it. My family is REALLY strict about things like this and have even gone so far as to say that pansexuals have sex with everybody because they see all genders the same way sexually. What exactly am I supposed to do about this?

[dancingdoc2]

Bisexual people are attracted to both men and women, but pansexual people are attracted to any people. This includes people who are neither decidedly male nor female.

So except for the latter, you could consider yourself bisexual, unless the latter is also an attraction. That you can be attracted to a male or female does not mean you will be. So, why don't you consider yourself bisexual until you learn differently? It seems like life would be much less complicate unless or until you find a person who is of neither gender.

I would venture to say that you would not have sex with everybody--there is still the matter of attraction between you and another person regardless of gender. This narrows the playing field considerably.

> What am I supposed to do?!

Why not worry about "what" only after you meet someone, male or female, that you are mutually attracted to; then, as with any other burgeoning relationship, play it by ear?

[Brandye]

Aside from the fact that no one can tell you what you "are supposed to do," your age is significant. If you are fifteen the advice may be very different from your being twenty-five.

It is also interesting that you have found out that you are "in fact pansexual." As a life long bisexual with many periods of confusion, I am curious how you were so definitively diagnosed as pansexual. For many of us there has never been an answer; we live, happily, with the ambiguity. Depending upon your specific stage of development, this could be simply a reaction against a sexually repressive family. And, Doc gives the best advice: wait and see what happens; no big announcements or other histrionics about what may or may not be so. You cannot unring that bell with your family.

[Barely18Guy]

Brandye is most definitely right, there's weeks when I'm attracted to both sex and then suddenly, sometime in a matter of minutes, I come back to being heterosexual. It's normal to be confused and it's quite hard to put a finger on your exact sexual orientation.