Q: How are mspec labels defined?
A: Mspec is an umbrella term describing people who experience attraction to more than one gender. This includes pan, bi, ply, omni, and anyone who is attracted to more than one gender with a different label (fluid and queer for example) or are unlabeled. Bi is attraction to two or more genders. Or attraction to more than one gender. Or attraction to genders similar and different than your own. Bi is also commonly used in place of mspec as the umbrella term for all people who experience attraction to more than one gender. Pan is attraction to people of all genders. Or more specifically, attraction that is not determined by gender. Ply is attraction to multiple but not all genders. Omni is attraction to all genders.
You are viewing: What Is Mspec
Q: How are mspec labels different?
A: Generally speaking, the easiest way to understand the difference is that bi can mean anything from two to all, ply means multiple but not all, and pan and omni only ever mean all. It’s important to remember that these are just basic definitions, and by no means are meant to draw lines between each identity. They very much overlap, and each individual who uses them has their own way of understanding and defining and relating to them. The best way to understand mspec labels is to listen to what the labels mean to those who use them, instead of relying on one single person or group to define them for everyone.
Further reading: 1.) Pan and bi definition and explanation psa. 2.) Explaining the differences between pan and bi, as well as the different ways one can identify with and reasons why one might use the terms. 3.) Why framing identifying as pan or bi as simply a matter of choosing one term over the other is harmful and inaccurate. 4.) Why saying “pan and bi are the same, it just depends on which term someone prefers” is not actually supportive or respectful of pan and bi people and our identities.
Q: Can people identify as more than one mspec label?
A: Of course! Many mspec people use more than one label.
Q: Is pan a new label? Or was it created on Tumblr or LiveJournal?
A: No. Pansexual has been used as sexual identity in the context of human sexuality since at least the 1960s. (Also: we are constantly discovering new and different aspects of ourselves that we feel the need to label, and labels all have to start somewhere. Where that happens to be does not determine the importance of it.)
Furth reading: 1.) Sourced timeline of the pansexual label. 2.) Sourced post about pansexual existing before Tumblr and since at least the 1960s. 3.) Sourced post of how pansexual has been defined from the 1960s to 2019.
Q: Is pansexuality biphobic or transphobic?
A: No. Pansexuality has historically been included in the bisexual community, and many people identify as both bi and pan. Pansexuality has been defined by individuals in transphobic ways, but the identity itself is not transphobic. Many pan people are also trans and/or non-binary.
Further reading: 1.) Sourced timeline of the pansexual label. 2.) Sourced history of the bisexual community accepting mspec labels.
Q: Did pansexuality originate in biphobia or transphobia?
A: No. Trans and non-binary people have shared their stories of how pan gained popularity decades ago amongst some people in response to transphobia, as way to be explicitly trans inclusive. And before that, pansexual was an alternative mspec label included in the bisexual community.
Read more : What Is Biothane
Further reading: 1.) Sourced timeline of the pansexual label. 2.) Explaining that neither pan nor bi are bad or bigoted identities with bad or bigoted histories. 3.) Shutting down the claim that pan originated in trans-hate and bi-hate. 4.) Sourced history of the bisexual community accepting mspec labels. 5.) Sources for pan gaining ground in response to transphobia.
Q: Is bisexual an umbrella term?
A: It depends on who you ask. Simply put, it can be. The “bisexual umbrella” has been used for almost a decade, and before then all ways of being mspec were considered part of the bisexual community. Organizations, general and bi specific, consider bisexual an umbrella term, and often use “bi+” to express that. Some people don’t support the use of bi as an umbrella term, for various reasons, such as feeling like the identities that are supposed to be included are often further shadowed, and feeling like it leads to bi people no longer having their own specific spaces.
Further reading: 1.) Sourced history of the bisexual community accepting mspec labels.
Q: Does the Bisexual Manifesto invalidate pansexuality?
A: Absolutely not. There isn’t a single thing in it that supports any argument against pansexuality. In fact, the Bisexual Manifesto, Anything That Moves (the magazine it was published in), and The Bay Area Bi+ & Pan Network (the group who published it) are explicitly inclusive of all mspec identities.
Further reading: 1.) Dissecting the complete Bisexual Manifesto. 2.) Quotes from Anything That Moves that support all mspec labels. 3.) Archived issues of Anything That Moves.
Q: Is it ableist to use “panphobia” to mean pan-hate?
A: No. Panphobia is not a medical diagnosis. It’s one of many outdated terms for generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder.
Further reading: 1.) Sourced debunking of the claim that it’s ableist for pan people to use “panphobia”.
Q: What does Freud have to do with pansexuality?
A: Nothing. His theory about human behavior being driven sexual instincts, which was called “pansexualism” is not related to pansexuality, the human sexuality we use today. They are fundamentally different things. It’s inherently queerphobic to insist that an outdated (and heavily criticized even in its time) theory for treating mental disorders is in any way related to a very real, very natural human sexuality. Bringing up Freud in relation to pansexuality at this point is just not done in good faith.
Further reading: 1.) Sourced timeline of the pansexual label. 2.) Shutting down the claim that pansexual is a bad term because of Freud.
Q: Can pan people have preferences?
A: Of course! Being attracted to all genders doesn’t mean being attracted to them all equally. Or gender not being what determines your attracttion doesn’t mean it can’t affect your attraction.
Read more : Discover the Magic of DBP Fabric
Further reading: 1.) “Regardless of gender” doesn’t mean “no preferences”.
Q: Are “hearts not parts” and “gender-blind” harmful?
A: Yes. What they mean to convey is fine (attraction being independent from or not determined by gender), but what they actually convey isn’t fine (conflation of gender and sex, ableism, arophobia, implications about non-pan people, etc.). Whether the people using those phrases are aware of those things isn’t really the point. The point is pan and non-pan people alike have been criticizing those phrases for a long time now. It’s best to leave them in the past.
Further reading: 1.) Explaining what’s wrong with “hearts not parts” and “gender-blind”.
Q: Is the pan flag’s meaning transphobic? Was the pan flag stolen from an Indian kingdom? Is the creator of the pan flag queerphobic or problematic in some way?
A: No, no, and no. The pan flag meanings are very simple, pink and blue for their gendered traditions and yellow, which is typically non-gendered, for non-binary folks. Any claims of the stripes othering trans men and women are not true. The pan flag was not stolen. That’s an entirely baseless claim that was spread by panphobes. The creator of the pan flag, Jasper, is not queerphobic. The only people who think that are exclusionists (who don’t support good faith queer identities), and therefore, queerphobes.
Further reading: 1.) Jasper on making the flag and what it means. 2.) Jasper on the accusations/attempts to replace the flag. 3.) Detailing the accusations against the flag/Jasper. 4.) Specifically on the theft accusation. 5.) Specifically on supporting kink at pride.
Q: When was “pannie” coined and is it related to the T slur?
A: The earliest use of “pannie” in reference to pan people that has been found was from 2001, and it was used derogatorily in the same breath as the T slur. Claims that it was coined in recent years completely independent from the T slur are simply not true. (Not to mention the very clear mimicking of the T slur and all the trans people who have expressed discomfort with it.)
Further reading: 1.) Source for the earliest known use of “pannie”. 2.) Breaking down earliest use of “pannie”.
Q: What are panphobic dogwhistles?
A: First, a dogwhistle is a way of expressing a controversial or offensive opinion or belief subtly or disguised enough that it doesn’t appear so and therefor does not attract a negative response. A panphobic dogwhistle is a way of expressing panphobia that doesn’t appear blatantly panphobic. Saying a statement is a panphobic dogwhistle is letting people know that it’s used often enough by panphobes to indicate or imply panphobia, so they should be aware and check to be safe. It is not claiming those statements in and of themselves are inherently panphobic or that everyone who says/shares them are panphobes. Remember, the whole point of a dogwhistle is its intentions are masked, it is not blatant or obvious or inherent.
Further reading: 1.) How to recognize veiled panphobia, and some examples of panphobic dogwhistles. 2.) Strawman arguments among panphobes. 3.) My dogwhistle/strawman tag.
Some useful links:
http://posi-pan.tumblr.com/navi – A list of tags I use that can help you find your way around and posts on specific topics.
http://posi-pan.tumblr.com/resources – A list of resources including pan history/sourced information, dates of pan pride days/week, other pan blogs, queer orgs for help/support/information, and hotlines for help.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHAT
