Trend Watch

Janelle Monáe Out as 'Pansexual'

Lookups rise 11,000% after Rolling Stone interview

Pansexual was among our top lookups on April 26th, 2018, after singer Janelle Monáe was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine self-identifying with the term.

Janelle Monáe has addressed long-standing speculation over her sexuality, telling Rolling Stone that she’s had relationships with both men and women and currently identifies as pansexual.
— Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork (pitchfork.com), 26 Apr. 2018

The sense of pansexual that is most often encountered today is defined as “of, relating to, or characterized by sexual desire or attraction that is not limited to people of a particular gender identity or sexual orientation.” This adjectival form is the same spelling as the noun meaning “one who is pansexual.”

Pansexual (and pansexuality) entered the English language in the early 20th century, although with a different meaning than it generally has today; the word initially meant “tending to suffuse all experience and conduct with erotic feeling.”


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