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{{Short description|Gay slang for an attractive youthful male}}
{{italic title}}
{{about|the gay slang for an attractive youthful male}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
<!-- Needed otheruses DAB tag to hopefully keep people from repeated addition of online game meaning (esp. World of Warcraft) -->[[File:2018.06.10 Troye Sivan at Capital Pride w Sony A7III, Washington, DC USA 03443 (27870870367).jpg|thumb|Australian singer-songwriter [[Troye Sivan]] has been described in media, and by himself, as a ''twink''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Davey |date=28 August 2018 |title=Troye Sivan Talks Being a Queer Icon — And Being Labeled a Bottom |url=https://www.them.us/story/troye-sivan-bloom-interview |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=Them |language=en-US |archive-date=23 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623221418/https://www.them.us/story/troye-sivan-bloom-interview |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harmsworth |first=Andrei |date=11 June 2023 |title=Troye Sivan says he's 'transitioning into a white twunk' |url=https://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/troye-sivan-im-transitioning-into-a-white-twunk-c-10883059 |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=PerthNow |language=en |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240718181837/https://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/troye-sivan-im-transitioning-into-a-white-twunk-c-10883059 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sayre |first=Justin Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=189UEAAAQBAJ&dq=Troye+Sivan&pg=PA250 |title=From Gay to Z: A Queer Compendium |date=10 May 2022 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-1-4521-8387-9 |page=250 |language=en |access-date=19 June 2024}}</ref><ref name=":0" />]]
'''''Twink''''' is [[gay slang]] for a man who is usually (but not always) in his late teens to twenties whose traits may include a slim to average physique, a youthful appearance, and little or no [[body hair]].<ref name="Bear Book II">{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Les |title=The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Subculture |publisher=Haworth Press |year=2001 |isbn=0789006367 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=23 November 2016 |title=The Four Young Murder Victims of Serial Killer Stephen Port |publisher=ITV News |url=http://www.itv.com/news/2016-11-23/the-four-young-murder-victims-of-serial-killer-stephen-port/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124051540/http://www.itv.com/news/2016-11-23/the-four-young-murder-victims-of-serial-killer-stephen-port/ |archive-date=24 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="PinkNews1">{{cite news |last=Williams |first=Joe |date=8 May 2015 |title=Man Arrested for Having 'Twink' Images on His Computer |newspaper=[[Pink News]] |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/05/08/man-arrested-for-having-twink-images-on-computer/ |access-date=29 December 2015 |archive-date=19 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819100808/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/05/08/man-arrested-for-having-twink-images-on-computer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Twink'' is used both as a neutral descriptor, which can be compared with ''[[Bear (gay culture)|bear]]'',<ref name="Fantabulosa: A">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T72TJfZoywAC |title=Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2004 |isbn=0-8264-7343-1 |page=79 |access-date=4 December 2007 |archive-date=4 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704012413/https://books.google.com/books?id=T72TJfZoywAC |url-status=live }}</ref> and as a [[pejorative]].<ref name="Bear Book II" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Sunderland |first=Mitchell |date=25 February 2015 |title=It's Hard Out Here for a Twink |website=Vice |department=News |url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/its-hard-out-here-for-a-twink-456 |access-date=29 December 2015 |archive-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130043122/http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/its-hard-out-here-for-a-twink-456 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Etymology==
{{wiktionary|twink|twinks}}The exact origins of the term ''twink'' are disputed. Some trace its first appearance to 1963, although it may be derived from an older British [[gay slang]] term ''twank'', which means: "The quarry of a homosexual [[prostitute]] (male); a man willing and ready to become any [[Dominance and submission|dominant]] man's 'partner'{{-"}}.<ref name="Partridge">{{cite book |author1=Partridge |first=Eric |url=https://archive.org/details/newpartridgedict00tomd |title=A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=9781134963652 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newpartridgedict00tomd/page/2025 2025] |language=English |access-date=27 August 2015 |url-access=registration |via=Archive.org}}</ref> [[Oxford Dictionaries (website)|Oxford Dictionaries]] claims ''twink'' has origins in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Twinkie |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/twinkie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110031118/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/twinkie |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 January 2013 |website=Oxford Dictionary |publisher=Oxford Press |access-date=19 August 2014 |ref=oxford}}</ref><ref name="ED">{{cite web |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=twink |access-date=22 August 2015 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222170135/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=twink |url-status=live }}</ref>
Another possible origin of the term may be a derivation from the American snack cake [[Twinkie]], commonly regarded as the quintessential [[junk food]]. The food is described as "little [[nutrition]]al value, sweet to the taste, and creme-filled";<ref name="Polari">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Paul |title=Polari – The Lost Language of Gay Men |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=0-415-26180-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MRKCAgAAQBAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=10 July 2008 |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024010108/https://books.google.com/books?id=MRKCAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gay-2-Zee: A Dicti">{{cite book |last=Reuter |first=Donald F. |year=2006 |title=Gay-2-Zee: A Dictionary of Sex, Subtext, and the Sublime |page=215 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |isbn=0-312-35427-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FpPbfVRm3MC&q=twink+gay |via=Google Books |access-date=4 December 2007 |archive-date=10 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710024734/https://books.google.com/books?id=7FpPbfVRm3MC&q=twink+gay#v=snippet&q=twink%20gay&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="75 Years And Counting">{{cite web |last=Sagon |first=Candy |date=13 April 2005 |title=Twinkies, 75 Years And Counting |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46062-2005Apr12.html |access-date=11 July 2008 |archive-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628233728/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46062-2005Apr12.html |url-status=live }}</ref> by comparison, the young men are described as "short, and blond, and full of creme",<ref name="Gay-2-Zee: A Dicti"/> with ''creme'' being a [[euphemism]] for [[semen]].<ref name="Gay-2-Zee: A Dicti"/><ref name="The X Factory">{{cite book |last=Petkovich |first=Anthony |year=2002 |title=The X Factory: Inside the American Hardcore Film Industry |publisher=Headpress |isbn=978-1-900486-24-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ghuHL0JZ1kC |via=Google Books |access-date=2 August 2013 |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024010114/https://books.google.com/books?id=8ghuHL0JZ1kC |url-status=live }}</ref>
A [[backronym]] has been constructed for ''twink'', according to which it stands for "'teenaged, [[white people|white]], into no [[kink (sexual)|kink]]", although these specified traits are not universally accepted as either necessary or sufficient to classify an individual as a "twink".<ref>{{cite web |title=Terms and Definitions |url=http://oregonstate.edu/pridecenter/panels/terms.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118013751/http://oregonstate.edu/pridecenter/panels/terms.php |archive-date=18 January 2008 |access-date=13 March 2008 |series=Pride Panel |publisher=[[Oregon State University]] |department=OSU Pride Center}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |title=Twink |dictionary=The Free Dictionary |url=http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Twink |access-date=13 March 2008 |department=Acronyms |archive-date=1 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701140844/http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Twink |url-status=live }}</ref>
==
=== Popular culture ===
In his book ''Never Enough'' (2007), about a murder [[Murder of Robert Kissel|committed in 2003 in Hong Kong]], described by ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' as hard-boiled clichés with a cartoonish first impression,<ref name=ny-times>{{cite news |last1=SHACOCHIS |first1=BOB |title=Sunday Book Review, Here Comes the Bride |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/books/review/Shacochis-t.html?pagewanted=all |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 December 2007 |access-date=19 August 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820105511/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/books/review/Shacochis-t.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Joe McGinniss]] describes a court case in which ''twink'' was defined as "a gay slang term used to denote an attractive, boyish-looking gay man between the ages of 18 and 23, slender [[ectomorph]] and with little or no [[body hair]], often blond, often but not necessarily Caucasian."<ref name="Never Enough">{{cite book |last=McGinniss |first=Joe |title=Never Enough |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7432-9636-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/neverenough00mcgi_0/page/280 280] |url=https://archive.org/details/neverenough00mcgi_0 |url-access=registration |quote=McGinniss never enough twink. |access-date=10 July 2008}}</ref>
*[[Chickenhawk (sexuality)]]▼
It has also been sparingly used to describe [[Heterosexuality|straight]] male celebrities who are skinny and have a youthful appearance, like [[Timothée Chalamet]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haramis |first=Nick |date=14 May 2018 |title=Welcome to the Age of the Twink |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/t-magazine/age-of-the-twink.html |access-date=15 May 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224014546/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/t-magazine/age-of-the-twink.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mezzolani |first=Ario |date=1 December 2023 |title=The Twink King: from Antinous to Troye and Timothée, the beauty of humanity |url=https://lampoonmagazine.com/article/2023/12/01/what-twink-means-tribe-queerbaiting-binary-patriarchy-heteronormativity-troye-sivan-timothee-chalamet/ |website=Lampoon Magazine |access-date=15 May 2024 |archive-date=5 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705202244/https://lampoonmagazine.com/article/2023/12/01/what-twink-means-tribe-queerbaiting-binary-patriarchy-heteronormativity-troye-sivan-timothee-chalamet/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Stopera |first1=Matt |last2=Galindo |first2=Brian |date=15 July 2021 |title=35 Celebrities Straight People Never Knew Were Twinks |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/celebs-that-are-twinks |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=BuzzFeed |language=en |archive-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515190427/https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/celebs-that-are-twinks |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Anne |first=Quimberly |date=14 November 2023 |title=Timothée Chalamet Shows Off Inner Twink As Troye Sivan in ''SNL'' Sketch |url=https://instinctmagazine.com/timothee-chalamet-shows-off-inner-twink-as-troye-sivan-in-snl-sketch/ |access-date=22 June 2024 |website=Instinct Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=30 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530201556/https://instinctmagazine.com/timothee-chalamet-shows-off-inner-twink-as-troye-sivan-in-snl-sketch/ |url-status=live }}</ref> although some object it to being used to refer to non-gay men.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rude |first=Mey |date=9 February 2023 |title=Just a Reminder: Twinks Have to Be Gay |url=https://www.out.com/celebs/twinks-are-gay-not-straight |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=www.out.com |language=en |archive-date=22 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522151449/https://www.out.com/celebs/twinks-are-gay-not-straight |url-status=live }}</ref>
== External links ==▼
=== Gay subculture ===
[[Category:LGBT terms]]▼
[[File:Grindr User Survey Subculture.jpg|alt=Grindr survey asking users what subculture they identify with|thumb|Grindr survey asking users what [[Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures|subculture]] they identify with prior to its update in 2017, using ''twink'' as an example]]The term also serves to identify a [[subculture]] within [[gay culture]] for which members of the community may self-identify, but their stable assurance mostly comes from acceptance by other members. The subculture, as examined now, serves as a purely physical marker for attributes any one person may hold and/or acquire, highly dependent on normative society's take on [[Physical attractiveness|beauty standards]] as a whole and what the community puts forth and prescribes to.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maki |first=Justin L. |date=2017 |title=Gay Subculture Identification: Training Counselors to Work With Gay Men |url=https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/gay-subculture-identification |journal=Ideas and Research You Can Use: VISTAS |pages=1–12 |via=ACA Knowledge Center |access-date=23 April 2018 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123064031/https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/gay-subculture-identification |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[Category:Pederasty]]▼
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]▼
[[Grindr]], a popular [[Online dating service|dating app]] for gay men, lists the term as one of many "tribes" for users to "identify themselves with a niche group and filter their search to help find their type of guy."<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-new-grindr-zero-feet-away-225991411.html |title=The New Grindr: Zero Feet Away |last=Grindr |website=www.prnewswire.com |language=en |access-date=23 April 2018 |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508201121/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-new-grindr-zero-feet-away-225991411.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Gay pornography ===
The term is often modified by various descriptors (e.g. ''[[femme]] twink'', ''[[Europe|Euro]] twink'', ''[[physical fitness|muscle]] twink'') and is commonly used in the [[gay pornography]] industry.<ref name="PinkNews1" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacobson |first1=Scott |title=Sex: Our Bodies, Our Junk |last2=Levin |first2=Todd |last3=Roede |first3=Jason |publisher=Random House, Inc. |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-307-59216-3 |pages=204–205}} {{ISBN|978-0-307-59216-3}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mowlabocus |first=Sharif, Dr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cciagVwKWPcC&pg=PA113 |title=Gaydar Culture: Gay Men, Technology, and Embodiment in the Digital Age |date=28 December 2012 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=9781409492627 |access-date=17 September 2017 |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024010109/https://books.google.com/books?id=cciagVwKWPcC&pg=PA113 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Essayist Zeb J. Tortorici notes that gay twink porn thrives on the production and performance of "consumable and visually/anally receptive masculinity."<ref name="Queer Youth Cultu">{{cite book |last=Driver |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHEcZEcgFfcC |title=Queer Youth Cultures: Performative and Political Practices |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7914-7886-8 |pages=199–215 |access-date=2 August 2013}}</ref> A twink is "memorable for his outer packaging", not his "inner depth".<ref name="Gay-2-Zee: A Dicti" /> Twink can be seen as a popular [[subgenre]] in gay porn widely consumed across the globe.<ref name=":1" /> In gay pornographic content, a twink usually, but not in all cases, plays the role of the submissive and receiving character commonly known as a ''bottom''.
== Analysis ==
Susan Driver characterized the word ''twink'' as relying on "[[ageist]] and [[racist]] [[trope (literature)|trope]]s of youth and white desirability".<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Driver |first=Susan |year=2010 |chapter=Queering pornography |title=Queer Youth Cultures |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7337-5}}</ref><ref name="Partridge" /> In regards to the concept, Driver describes it as "a young, white, and performed [[masculinity]] that can be [[Sexual fetishism|fetishized]], consumed, ... clearly coded in terms of race and age",<ref name=":1" /> thus establishing the intersection for which race and age come together to create a hyper-sexualized denomination, often associated with sexual acts and the [[Sex industry|pornographic industry]].<ref name=":1" />
==See also==
{{Portal|LGBTQ}}
<!---PLEASE NOTE: as terms are included into the article they should be deleted from this list.--->
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Age disparity in sexual relationships]]
* [[Chicken (gay slang)]]
* [[Femboy]]
* [[Himbo]]
* [[List of pornographic magazines]]
* [[Twinkie (slur)]]
}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Hart |first=Jack |date=1998 |title=Gay Sex: A Manual for Men Who Love Men |publisher=Alyson Books |isbn=1-55583-468-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Rodgers |first=Bruce |date=1972 |title=The Queen's Vernacular: A Gay Lexicon |publisher=[[Straight Arrow Press|Straight Arrow Books]] |isbn=0-87932-026-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Stewart |first=William |date=1995 |title=Cassell's Queer Companion : A Dictionary of Lesbian and Gay Life and Culture |publisher=Cassell |isbn=0-304-34301-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/cassellsqueercom00stew }}
* {{Wiktionary-inline|twink#Etymology 3|Twink}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Twinks}}
{{LGBT slang}}
{{Sexual slang}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:English words]]
[[Category:Gay effeminacy]]
[[Category:Gay male pornography]]
[[Category:Homophobic slurs]]
[[Category:Male homosexuality]]
[[Category:Physical attractiveness]]
[[Category:Pornography terminology]]
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