I recently asked on Twitter for some suggestions for LGBT identity categories. Thanks to all those who replied. I remain very short on lesbian ‘categories’/identities - any suggestions would be most welcome.Where to begin? I guess for anyone who recently spent anytime in a UK gay village or flicked through a rack of porn ‘the twink’ would seem to be dominating the public presence of the male homosexual. This is particularly worrying as the twink is young. Smooth (either through waxing/shaving or natural) and without much body hair, slim and typically white. The twink is the ultimate celebration of queer youth – with the term coming apparently from the US ‘twinkie’ – a sugary and sweet and full of errr cream (famously used as the ‘Twinkie Defense’ in the trial of Harvey Milk killer Dan White). It’s not hard to see where the phrase ‘young, dumb and full of cum’ came from.
The twinks presence – however aesthetically pleasing one might find them in the short term, is significant for excluding those who are older – and do not conform to the category of what Whittle termed the ‘beautiful people’. The twink will inevitably grow up and what happens to them then?
The porn actor Brent Corrigan is perhaps a nigh profile example of the twink identity in porn and I recently blogged about him producing a safer sex campaign video here . The picture I include here a typical example of the twink we see in porn – boyish, and with faux innocence coupled with sexual suggestion.
Thanks Clair. I was just about to post details of the SM Dykes conference actually (saw your FB status earlier!) :-)
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