The earliest uses are (mildly or strongly) derogatory, and seem to come mostly from straight people. The first cite for twinkie is from 1980, again in a report on usage, this time in Maledicta. The OED's first cite for twink is from 1963, but it's in an American Speech article reporting on word uses, so that the word surely has an earlier history. Uses of twink( ie) with reference to gay men are fairly recent. The etymology of twink is uncertain, though the OED hesitantly suggests a relationship to twink 'twinkling', and it notes a popular association of twinkie, and so twink as well, with the snack cake Twinkie (the OED doesn't go so far as to record jocular references to twink(ie)s as being, or getting, filled with cream).
#Mature gay man with black gay twink series#
Within the world of gay men, the labels are taken seriously as social identifiers, but as is common with labels associated with social stereotypes, they're often used in a mildly mocking (even self-mocking) fashion.īelieve it or not, the OED (additions series 1993) has an entry for uses of twink, and twinkie as well, with reference to gay men.
![mature gay man with black gay twink mature gay man with black gay twink](https://cdn.repeller.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Troye-Sivan-Man-Repeller-Feature-1-848x1272.jpg)
The set of types is not a taxonomy of gay men a great many gay men don't fall clearly within one of the types. Each is associated with a stereotype involving physical appearance, attitudes, and presentation of self, through dress, bearing, gesture, speech, and so on there is a weak, but only a weak, association with preferences for sex acts and roles. In current gay slang, it labels one of a number of recognized "types" of gay men: twink, bear, clone, prep(py), leatherman, queen, jock, etc. I had to look it up: TWINK is gay slang (I quote Wikipedia) for "a young or young-looking gay man (usually white and in his late teens or early twenties) with a slender build, little or no body hair, and no facial hair."įrom the Wikipedia entry, it's hard to see why anyone should treat twink as a rude word. The filtering system spotted the first five letters of the first word and pounced. It transpired that the offending "word" was in the title of a nursery rhyme I listed: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Do you recall reading any rude words? I don't remember writing any.
![mature gay man with black gay twink mature gay man with black gay twink](https://www.apa.org/images/tile-press-generation-z-gay-bisexual_tcm7-289665.png)
The issue last week was blocked by one site in the UK because it had a rude word in the message body. TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE TWINK It's amazing what you can learn from e-mail error messages. Michael Quinion reports in his latest World Wide Words (#661, October 17):