What does the term bisexual mean now?
This is a genuine question from a bisexual person.
Context: I am a bisexual person and I have been for 5 years. I had help from some LGBTQ friends + people about my identity. I would say that I am rather skeptic about information on the Internet and social media, because of the rampant misinformation. Hence, I rely on the LGBTQ friends that I have. For years I have known that bisexuals means "being attracted to two genders." These were statements also said by all of my LGBTQ friends. Two weeks ago, I saw an Insta post that shows the difference between pansexual and bisexual. For bisexual, it said: "being attracted to two or more genders." Honestly, I don't understand and I need some help.
The prefix bi is a latin word that means "two, twice". Some words that have the bi as a prefix strictly mean "two." For example:
Biped=two feet, Biweekly=twice a week, bilingual= speaking two languages
Does that mean there are only two genders that exist? Of course not. That is why some people identify as pansexual. The prefix "pan" in pansexual is a greek word that means "all, of everything, involving all members".
A question of mine is that is there another word to describe people being attracted to numerous genders with certain exclusions? If there is a word for it, why do people apply that on bisexual? Is there a legitimate argument that can clarify this that is not "the prefix has changed overtime". I cannot understand why people would say this statement, because if the word "bi" (as in the prefix, not sexuality) has changed overtime, people would be saying that a bilingual person knows two or more languages or that biped has two or more feet. From an objective perspective, it doesn't make sense to change the meaning of the prefix for one word and not change the rest.
P.S This is not meant to hurt anyone. I am just really confused. Over the last couple of years, defining sexualities has become extremely confusing to the point that, for me, it is hard wether to know the information I consume is true or not. From the debate on gender dysphoria to gender fluidity, I am having a hard time catching up on all of it compared to people my age or younger.
Also, I apologize if I made any grammar or syntax mistakes.
