Omnisexual

The omnisexual flag.

Omnisexual is an orientation defined as the sexual attraction to all genders. This can also be a romantic orientation (omniromantic).

Omnisexuality vs. Pansexuality

Lots of people in the LGBT+ community are uneducated on the many forms of non-monosexuality (attraction to more than one gender) and are very confused when they see the terms pansexual and omnisexual side-by-side, as they probably think, "Oh, these are the same thing! Why is everyone making this so complicated?" Thus begins the great dispute that is easily solved by one fact that will distinguish the two terms:

Pansexual people are gender-blind, meaning they are attracted to people no matter their gender; they don't recognize it.

Omnisexual people are also attracted to all genders, much like pansexuals, but they are not gender-blind. Omnisexuals do recognize the gender of the person they are attracted to, and for some, it is a major factor in attraction. For some, it isn't, but they are still not gender-blind if they call themselves omnisexual.

Some may think that the distinction isn't necessary, but it is to lots of people. Please let everyone define their own orientation as they wish, and don't dictate the labels that other people get to choose.

History

The word omnisexuality appears as early at the 1959 beat poet Lawrence Lipton's The Holy Barbarians, but the first time it was described in the context of the current definition was in a 1984 text titled simply Sexual Choices: An Introduction to Human Sexuality. This text described omnisexuality as "a state of attraction to all sexes," stating that some researchers believe that every individual is born omnisexual before developing their sexual attraction into the labels of homosexual, heterosexual or other orientations.

The term spread even further in the early 1990's as M. Jimmie Killingsworth undertook an analysis of the poet Walt Whitman. In Killingsworth's study, he found that Whitman had a general omnisexual character throughout his work The Leaves of Grass. In the 2010's, The Atlantic noted that his poetry expresses sexuality towards all genders, sometimes even the sea or the Earth.

The wide arms of the internet, specifically wikis and Tumblr, latched on to this term and educated many people on it. Before these sites existed, though, this term was being used in the early 21st century. Omnisexual was a common message board term in the 2000's. The knowledge of this term was boosted even further when several celebrities, such as Janelle Monae and Brendon Urie, came out as pansexual. The media made several non-monosexual terms known in the mainstream as that took place. Many popular articles discussed omnisexuality alongside these celebrities' pansexuality.

Fictional characters, believe it or not, have also been identified as omnisexual. Jack Harkness, from the popular series Doctor Who, has been canonically confirmed as omnisexual, as has the Marvel character Deadpool.

Now, sexuality researchers use the term omnisexual alongside the labels bisexual and pansexual as a common term when describing non-monosexuality in humans.

Etymology

The prefix omni- comes from the Latin word omnis, meaning 'all'. Pan-, which the term pansexual comes from, also means ’all’, and is a Greek prefix.

Sources

https://www.dictionary.com/e/gender-sexuality/omnisexual/ site www,dictionary.com. "What Does Omnisexual Mean? Gender and Sexuality by Dictionary.com." Site accessed April 26th, 2020 by LGBTA Wiki user BraidyGays.