People Are Calling Out This Problematic Twink Article And The Tweets Are Hilarious

15 May 2018, 13:04

By Sam Prance

Olly Alexander, Tyler Oakley and more respond to 'Welcome to the Age of the Twink'...

Yesterday The New York Times published a controversial opinion piece called 'Welcome to the Age of the Twink'.

The article aims to explore the ways in which queer male body ideals have changed in recent years and how 'young, attractive, hairless, slim men' have become more popular in mainstream culture and in doing so helped change the ways in which we view masculinity.

Obviously the piece is problematic. The term 'twink' has historically excluded people of colour and, while twinks may be more present in the media than ever before, 'young, attractive, hairless, slim men' have been seen as objects of desire for years. Not only that but, while twinks do challenge gender norms to varying degrees, there are plenty of other queer people who do so in more notable ways.

The responses to the op-ed range from the laugh out loud to the serious and insightful. Here we've gathered some of the best for you.

Chart-topping legend and self-confessed twink Olly Alexander was quick to engage with the piece.

We sympathise with the dilemma of calling something out that is also celebrating you. The sub categories of 'euro twinks', 'twunks' and 'art twinks' is killing us too.

YouTube king Tyler Oakey also joined the conversation with a hilarious pun.

We are dying.

Adam Moussa turned the piece into its own film franchise.

Not Another Gay Teen Move is shook.

Phillip Henry used it as an opportunity to call out one of Hollywood's notorious alleged sexual abusers.

Seriously though, how is Bryan Singer still working in Hollywood?

John Paul Brammer chimed in by joking that it's now impossible for those of us who aren't twinks to find love.

He has a point.

Louis Staples got real by commenting that 'The Age of the Twink' is nothing new.

Tea.

Billy Eichner turned things up a notch with his own dystopian interpretation of The Age of the Twink.

It looks like Hulu has the premise for a new Emmy award-winning TV series.

Jaboukie Young-White responded to the article by outlining what makes a twink.

If you know, you know.

Michael Arceneaux got straight to the point by highlighting the huge flaws in the piece.

As much as we adore straight actors including Nick Robinson and Timothée Chalamet, it is a bit out of line to pinpoint them as important cultural disruptors when there are so many people in the LGBTQ+ fighting stereotypes in more drastic ways.

And Ira Madison kept things simple with his signature catch phrase.

Of course artists like Troye Sivan and Olly Alexander are doing amazing things for queer culture but it's important they we recognise that they still fall into conventional beauty stereotypes and have privileges that other queer artists don't.

Just as we uplift and praise twinks, we need to make sure that we take into consideration what other amazing LGBTQ+ artists from MNEK to Janelle Monáe are doing.

20GAYTEEN is full of queer artists doing amazing work and they aren't just twinks.