“Twink” seems to be the only gay identifier that comes with negative connotations. Otters aren’t thought of as naive, so why do hairless otters (aka twinks) get classified as ditzy?
Well, probably because there are plenty of guys who fit the bill, but that doesn’t mean that every boyish-looking, skinny guy should be lumped together in one group.
In other words, don’t try to put a twink in a box (even though he might fit with room to spare for packaging foam).
Below, guys on Whisper share the attitudes they’ve faced as self-proclaimed twinks:
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Bradley Tabor
I don’t see a twink as a skinny gay guy. To me a twink is a skinny gay guy who is also vapid, pretentious, and entitled. The term doesn’t need to be reclaimed; it should be redefined.
bottom250
My honey’s as a small gay effeminate twink I don’t think it is a negative. I just think most people view younger people as naive and less worldly.
Bryan Mozo
It does not
Michiel Naude
Oh!!ð??³
Billy Budd
I fuck twinks and I get fucked by hunks. It is lovely.
crowebobby
I remember a San Francisco guy in the early 80’s telling me he had hated being a twink but he had worked it to death.
onthemark
Really, we’re supposed to feel sorry for twinks now? I thought they were considered to be at the top of the pecking order and they got most of the sex action. When did this suddenly change? But I guess there’s something to the notion that they’re often considered to be “dumb.”
Glücklich
@Bradley Tabor:
High five! I’d rather see it retired. Always loathed the word exactly because of the associations you named.
Whatever happened to “chicken” and “jailbait” even if applied to guys who are technically not underage? Both sound funnier than “twink,” though the type’s never appealed to me.
Glücklich
@onthemark:
Never been at the top of my pecking order. No thanks. Knowledge and experience get my motor going, especially experiences wildly different from my own.
bottom250
@Billy Budd: Fabulous honey
Bob LaBlah
@crowebobby: I was in my early twenties and living in Los Angeles at that time and we were referred to as chicken. Gay porn film maker William Higgins and Toby Ross were the biggest chicken hawks out there at the time.
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson
the question should be why and how many people are boycotting the Oscars for lack of diversity in the LGBT community do better with the questions of the day
J Allen Hale
Twink is not a skinny 32 year old……
Trevor Kramer
The quotes from the self-described twinks do a good job of reinforcing the stereotype. #irony
BigG
To me twinks look like women or trans. Plus they look unhealthy to me. Like near death I just want to feed them. I like guys who look full male and have masculine looking qualities. But to each their own.
bottom250
@Trevor Kramer: Ohh honey how?
Clai Green
Yes annoying queens
Daveliam
The concept of “reclaiming” a term should only really be applied to situations where the word has been used in hateful, angry, derogatory way towards a stigmatized group of people from the outside. That’s not the case for twinks. The term has a meaning and that meaning is often associated with stereotypes. In some cases, those stereotypes are negative. But the idea that twinks have been, somehow, oppressed by the term and now need to ‘reclaim’ it is ridiculous.
Daniel L Hatchett
Twink: Pixie boys who wear pants to tight and shirts to small and have ridiculous haircuts. It’s stupid!
Will Gore
Let the term die. Some gays are masc and some are fem and some in between, but when I hear twink, I instantly think of a Twinkie and it makes me hungry. Lol
Richard B Roberts
Twanks
Sean Brennan
I don’t see it as a pejorative term. To me it just means a youngish pretty guy. All the negative stuff people are associating with the term are qualities of SOME youngish pretty guys not all.
crowebobby
@Bob LaBlah: Not worth having a fight over, but for me “chicken” referred to age (a kid could be butch as assholes and he was still chicken if he was underage) whereas “twink” was a type and could refer to someone in their mid-twenties. I’ve also thought “twink” was usually used in referring to gays of this body (and personality) type. Chicken had always been a major turn-on for me, twinks not so much.
Costa Kay
Bryan Anderi
Morgan S. Trouillet
i love twinks, and there’s nothing wrong with that, or with them, or with the word
Stached1
Nope.
@crowebobby: Chicken=underage guys, which is well sick that you’re major turned on by them. Twink=a femme gay guy that’s mainly a bottom.
Adrian Lehman-Sizemore
i use it in a manner akin to “tween” and mean nothing pejorative when using it. but we are at a place when words like queer and faggot have lost their original connotations as well! i always must scan the context of the words in their statements to determine if they are being used in a derogative manner
martinbakman
Where do guys dress like the dude in the middle with that….vest???
Oh well. As long as he enjoys his style, that’s what counts.
bottom250
@martinbakman: In the clubs in the summer
jr111585
@Sean Brennan: Yep, I agree. My thoughts exactly.
Ariel Hans Christian
Nope bcuz every generation in youth will go thru the Homo-Sorting Hat when they come out to themselves n friends n family.
It’s up to the individual to decide to live with the label or not…no label is still a label…your choice.
I realized on my “yellow brick road” of Homosexuality I’m a Mahu (Hawaiian) or in Gay terms a Butch-Queen. Be a ‘dude’ when I need too, be a Faerie when I need too.
Don’t let the fat stomach and glitter fool YOU! I know how to play FIRE and know when to wait and applaud when you fail.
ð???ð??ð??ð??ð?ð??
Kevin White
Really… “the only gay identifier that comes with negative connotations”? Is the writer a self loathing Twink? Who else would associate negative with Twink. ANY term can be made to have negative connotations. Its all about who says it and how someone hears it then applies their own personal feelings to it. Some people are just looking to be persecuted. Tone down the drama please.
Dafydd
I associate a body type and age range/appearance with twink, not personality, intelligence, attitude or fashion style. I think guys exhibiting twink physical characteristics are attractive and sexy…there’s nothing pejorative about the term for me.
Jase Fortier
If you mean reclaiming as in reclamation as in a garbage can, the answer is yes. And please take, Genderqueer, pan sexual, cisgender, demisexual, gender fluid, gender binary, gynasexual, skoliosexual and Caitlin Gender with you.
Glücklich
@Jase Fortier:
THANK YOU! Shitcan the lot!
J.r. Graff
Twink: brainless, worthless, vermin. Go get your degree, travel a bit, pay your own bills…. Then we’ll talk. ð???
GLF
I’ll reclaim the twink on the far right of that lead photo, sure.
crowebobby
@Stached1: Whatever you say, Anita. I tried to wait for Harry Styles to turn 18 before I found him attractive, but those of us with diseased minds just can’t help ourselves. It just about me drove up the wall waiting for Tom Daley to come of age so I could see photos of him here and in The Advocate. The shame is just about unbearable, but I’m so close to death already there’s no longer any point to me committing suicide. Pray for me.
Dan Duprey
I’m surprised that “twink” is pejorative. I thought it was the like type O blood, universally suitable.
Glücklich
@martinbakman:
That garment is hideous AND unflattering though not as gross as the shorts on the 7th-grader at far right.
DeWayne Talbert
Just EFF em
Andres Burrows-Garibay
lmfao
Dave Downunder
What do you call an ageing twink? Some guys grow old still trying to be thin cute and vapid.
DCguy
I love who to claim that no other terms in the community are used derogatorilly the article brings up Otter as an example.
So to claim twin is used as a bad label you bring up the label that is basically used for a twin with a hairy chest?
You may want to ask bears, daddies, bisexuals, Transgender folks, guppies, but pies etc… if those terms have ever been used in a derogatory manner.
Stefano
Why reduce people based on their apparence? Maybe the twinks are mot only the vapid ones in this LGBT non-sense. Mouhahahaha
Aromaeus
I think what needs to be retired is using animals to refer to body types.
Phillip Bernal
NO it’s what “they” use to find each other. until they start growing man hair on their very feminine bodies then something magical happens. they become grown men with bulk and character…
DeserTBoB
“Twinks”…the Gracie Allens of the gay world. They are what they are, and they’re annoying as all fuck.
David Tillman
Jose
kzen64
People are judged and labeled all the time based on superficial characteristics…
spiffy
So the twinks don’t want to be judged… But they won’t hesitate for a nanosecond to call me fat.
Not a “bear”, but fat.
(Insert your own conclusion here.)
Stefano
@spiffy: So ALL the “twinks” in the world call you fat? Really? And why do you care about what they think?!
stevebond
Twinks not dressed in women’s panties can be sexy but not when they get older. The shelf life is kinda like a stewardess.
TheBigOne
And here I thought that we “bears” had a hard time.
Poor twinks 🙁
Doughosier
I live in LA so maybe it’s different here but I’ve never heard of a twink complaining about it. It’s the ideal out here. Nothing trumps youth and beauty. Guys hang on to the twink kable far too long if anything.
Patrickpmh
What if every gay identifier is a problem. How the hell do I get over that.
dean089
I’ve never thought of “twink” as anything other than age and appearance. Yes, I’ve known some ditzy twinks, but I’ve also known ditzy bears, ditzy seniors, etc. I’ve also known some very intelligent twinks, along with all the other types of people.
JodyBoy
For all the gorgeous twinks out there, I want you all to know, that I ONLY like twinks, and plenty of other guys do too. So be proud of your unique beauty and don’t try to change or wish you were different. I dream of finding a twink boyfriend. More power to the prettyboys!
surreal33
ONLY IF IT IS REPLACED BY THE WORD DOUCHE!!!!!!!!!!!
TheFinalWord
Cry me a f-ing river