Opinion
Between the problematic anthem ‘Girls’ and The New York Times’ think piece on the ‘Age of the Twink,’ it’s high season for co-opting LGBTQ culture.
By Ira Madison III, The Daily Beast
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/ Atlantic Records |
Always quick to discover a trend late, The New York Times—via its T magazine—published an article Monday on the alleged “Age of the Twink.”
“The
latest twinks—many of whom are straight—are what you might call ‘art
twinks,’ building upon an aesthetic legacy established by Ryan
McGinley’s turn-of-the-millennium photographs of the sloppily skinny, or
last decade’s leather-pant-clad Saint Laurent models chosen by the
designer Hedi Slimane. And yet they are more culturally mainstream: a
growing cohort of famous (and famously small) boys who stand in
opposition to the lumbering, abusive oafs who have been dominating this
year’s headlines,” the piece read.
The slang “twink,” typically used to describe a boyish-looking, usually white, gay male age 17-25
(though that age range varies depending who you talk to), is being
oddly co-opted here for an article on young lithe Hollywood leading men
Timothée Chalamet, Tye Sheridan, and Lucas Hedges. In doing so, it
positions these men as somehow a creation to combat the predators of the
#MeToo era: “Female body types have always cycled in and out of style;
yet with men, alternatives to the ideal of imposing physicality have
usually been ignored or lampooned. But as women continue to use their
voices to undo that legacy of toxic masculinity, a different kind of
change is taking place from within the culture: These twinks, after all,
aren’t just enviably lean boys or the latest unrealistic gay fantasy,
but a new answer to the problem of what makes a man.”
As LGBTQ culture becomes more mainstream, it’s easier to package and sell it to straight people, and ‘Girls’ and The New York Times have both hopped on the bandwagon.
The idea that a body type is what makes a man capable of sexual
assault, and that this new image of a slim, white male will somehow
counteract women’s trauma of the past,
is wildly ludicrous. It ignores the fact that there have and will
continue to exist many abusive men with a “twink” frame, and that it’s
the power structures of Hollywood that contribute to men committing sexual crimes. The cultural embrace of a new body type isn’t some grand response to #MeToo or to the concept of masculinity.
Never
mind the fact that this body type has existed forever, in many
celebrated artists like Prince and Freddie Mercury. The article mentions
the latter, but claims he was much too “costumed,” as opposed to
current gay artists like Troye Sivan and Olly Alexander. Alexander, for
one, is 27 and not a twink. And second, both artists are openly
gay and express their artistry much in the way Prince or Mercury did,
so the odd, internalized homophobia from this author in describing Sivan
and Alexander as more masculine by contrast smacks in the face of their
initial thesis.
The article comes on the heels of another silly co-opting of queer culture: the pop song “Girls,” as sung by Rita Ora,
Cardi B, Bebe Rexha, and Charli XCX. The lyrics, “Sometimes, I just
wanna kiss girls, girls, girls / Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls,
girls, girls,” have come under fire from out bisexual artists such as
Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani. “I don’t need to drink wine to kiss girls;
I’ve loved women my entire life. This type of message is dangerous
because it completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings
of an entire community, we can and should do better,” Kiyoko wrote on Instagram. Kehlani chimed in with,
“hate to be THAT guy but there were many awkward slurs, quotes, and
moments that were like, ‘word? word.’ and don’t make this personal. i
have an incredible song out with one of the artists, and would love to
work with the other three as well. & have met them all and respect
them. there. were. harmful. lyrics. period.”
Though Cardi B has had lyrics
before like, “I need Chrissy Teigen / Know a bad bitch when I see one /
Tell RiRi I need a threesome,” and Ora fumbled through an interview
when asked if she was bisexual (“I think the way… If people look at it
like that, it’s very narrow-minded, and I don’t think that’s what this
record is. I don’t think that that even matters. Yeah.”), Ora has since come out
as having had “romantic relationships with both women and men,” and
fans have been quick to defend her and Cardi B on Twitter. But the fact
still remains that the song is pretty much a modern “I Kissed a Girl.”
It’s not a bisexual anthem; it’s an anthem about getting drunk or high
and kissing on girls. It’s stripped of romance, of meaning, and frankly a
letdown as a pop song given Ora’s excellent prior singles “Anywhere”
and “Your Song.”
As LGBTQ culture becomes ever more mainstream, it’s easier to package and sell it to straight people, and “Girls” and The New York Times have both hopped on the bandwagon. Luckily, there are queer artists like Kehlani, Kiyoko, and Alexander—who jokingly mentioned he’s far from a twink on Twitter—who are more than happy to voice their dissent.
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