Twinks: An Endangered Species?

At first, only the Daddies and twink-hunters noticed it, but now its dawning on the rest of us. Where are all the twinks? Where are the stick thin, bleach blond, practically hairless youths running around in skin-tight V-Necks singing ‘Defying Gravity?’ Okay so that’s a bit of a stereotype, but you see my point.

Twinks are disappearing. The Cause? The same cause for the diminishing of all species. The introduction of a new, fitter species – and we don’t just mean in the Darwinian sense. It appears the younger generation of gays have been hitting the gym. Muscle and Masculinity appear to be this generations goals, with half of them growing beards and body hair, and those that can’t are working all the harder on their bodies. This species appeared in such large numbers over such a short space of time that a name for the species as a whole was never given, and they were instantly categorised into subspecies.

Twunk – Basically just a twink with muscles.

Jock – Athletic, Muscular and, most importantly (to them, at least), Masculine. The kind of guys who’s Grindr profile would say Masc4Masc or Straight Acting Non-Scene.

Alt – Beards, tattoos and piercings. Stretched ears, baggy (in all the right areas) clothes, and statement haircuts. These are the marks of the Alt Gay.

Pup – This actually describes a few different subspecies. Type 1 – Pup is the Wolf as Cub is to bear. Type 2 – Puppies. Young guys who are turned on by dressing in leather dog costumes, walking on all fours on a leash and playing with other puppies or have a dom/sub relationship with their ‘Owner.’ Type 3 – A young guy who is cute, bright-eyed, eager and energetic, but also inexperinced and naive.

In a society rapidly accelerating toward real equality, the younger generation of gays are striving to be more like our straight counterparts, theres no room for the outrageous and effeminate. With ‘Masculine’ and ‘Straight acting’ being the words du jour, are we losing a part of our history? Or worse; are we losing a part of ourselves?