It’s a label that mitigates the need for names or personalities or agency: “twinks” can be bussed into parties, thrown into pools, put into a tiny Speedo-or no tiny Speedo at all-and ornamentally placed around the water’s edge like living, breathing, giggling statuary. The term’s namesake is Twinkie, a junk food containing shiny packaging, a sweet taste, and zero nutritional value. At its most pejorative, the term describes a uniquely disposable kind of young gay man: Hairless, guileless, witless. In gay company, use of the word “twink” is typically paired with a rolled eye and a condescending tone.
