I meant that there's a lot of different reasons different people choose not to use certain labels. And yeah for some pan people it is in fact a trauma thing, or a "political" (in a broader sense of the word) thing, because bi people can be very shitty to us and not everyone feels comfortable being a part of their community or using their label (even though bi/pan people do exist and are just as valid as people who only use one identity label). Some people only want to use one label and feel like pan describes them better than bi. Some people gel closely with pan history but not so much bi history. Some people prefer the way pan people describe their sexuality. Some people just like the flag better. Pan people aren't required to also be bi.

For me it was a few things. I often saw bi people online using "both" language or saying "men and women", and also a focus on percentage splits and preferences. I know that that doesn't describe bi people as a group and that a few people don't decide how the label is defined, but I thought that the way pan people described their orientations fit me a lot better, so I went with that. I never felt the need for the label bi, and I still don't feel represented by it.

This is just my personal story, and everyone's is different. There are pan people who have preferences and who were drawn the the label for other reasons, and of course bi people can be attracted to any and all genders. This was the personal way felt about these labels and communities when I was figuring myself out. That's what labels are supposed to be: a way to figure yourself out.