Apart from the fact that the verbal effort required to be politically correct and not offend people is now likely to induce an asthma attack in anyone who does not have a high degree of aerobic fitness, the other interesting thing about this is the arrival of the terms ‘omnisexual’ and ‘pansexual’.  I confess that I have not got the foggiest idea what these two assaults upon the English language represent and feel no urgent need to rectify my ignorance.  The roots would indicate they should be synonyms — though synonyms for what? 

Regular readers will know that I occasionally try to keep track of the ever-expanding letters which are being used to describe the sexual chaos that exists in PC World (and I am not referring to the magazine favoured by  computer geeks).  Well, Carlton Wynne has brought to my attention that Professor Robert George at Princeton has spotted a very strong contender for the title of the world’s most exhaustively pious PC acronym.  This is from Lewis and Clark: LGBTQQAOPA.   This can be expressed longhand as “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, asexual, omnisexual, pansexual and allied community.”

Apart from the fact that the verbal effort required to be politically correct and not offend people is now likely to induce an asthma attack in anyone who does not have a high degree of aerobic fitness, the other interesting thing about this is the arrival of the terms ‘omnisexual’ and ‘pansexual’.  I confess that I have not got the foggiest idea what these two assaults upon the English language represent and feel no urgent need to rectify my ignorance.  The roots would indicate they should be synonyms — though synonyms for what? I also have a sneaking suspicion — call me paranoid if you like — that I may be the only category of person now excluded and oppressed.

Joking aside, the two new words would seem to imply a total abolition of distinguishing categories in the matters of sexuality and sexual identity.  Ironically, this would seem to render the preceding letter distinctions meaningless (perhaps even at some point in the near future potentially imperialist?).  In the land of the utterly free, the meaning of sex is always a matter of purely (sic) individual construction.  When a category embraces everything in general, it embraces nothing in particular.  When that category purports to be in some way political or ethical — well, you can draw the conclusion for yourself.

And yet before we thank the Lord that we are not as other men/women/persons of alternative gender/persons of other alternative gender (and so on for 97 bien-pensant pages), remember there is continuity here: the Promethean moment came when sex became primarily a matter of individual fulfillment, a recreational activity freed from the bonds of permanent, loving, sacrificial relationships.

That was when the hand dared to seize the fire.

Dr. Carl Trueman is Paul Woolley Professor of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary and pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Ambler, PA. This article first appeared at Reformation 21 and is used with permission.

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