Does 'twink' imply a specific sexuality?

Solution 1:

I think the best answer anyone can give here is: yes and no.

First off, I would say that twink is more or less always used either by gay men or about gay men (or both). I have never, in my life, heard a (straight) girl refer to a straight guy as a twink (except perhaps if particularly discussing the notion of twinkhood, like we are now).

I have heard plenty of gay guys refer to other gay guys as twinks (or otters, cubs, bears, etc.); I have heard lots of lesbians refer to gay guys as twinks; I have heard some straight girls (mostly falling into the fag hag category) refer to gay guys as twinks, in conversation with gay guys; and I have heard gay guys refer to straight guys as twinks.

A twink is really just a type: it invokes images of a particular type of physique, look, facial features, hair style, clothing style, etc., just like terms like hipster, goth, or yuppie do. The particular combination of associations invoked by twink most commonly fall together in gay men, and the term arose in the gay community to describe those gay men primarily.

But if a straight guy fits the bill, it is not at all uncommon especially for gay guys to tell him that he’s a real twink, or such a twink. This may or may not please the straight guy in question.

In such cases, there is usually a certain level of association with sexuality inherent in the term, and I’ve often heard straight guys say things like, “If I were gay, would I be a twink?”—or gay guys say things like, “You’d be such a twink if you were gay”—which implies that being the type is not enough: to be a twink, you have to be gay.

On the other hand, I’ve also heard gay guys say things along the lines of, “Look at that twink over there in the corner. So hot! Too bad he’s straight”, or (less enthusiastically) “Nah, Leo¹ never did it for me—too much of a twink”, which implies that being the type is enough, and that sexuality is secondary.

Calling someone a twink implies, at least to some extent, that they ‘act gay’ (whatever exactly that means to the speaker), though it doesn’t necessarily imply that they identify as gay.

¹ Meaning here of course the ultimate straight twink: Leonardo DiCaprio as he looked in the mid-1990s.

Solution 2:

I've referred to my straight significant other as a twink, but the situation may be atypical. I am gender queer. I am chromosomally female but identify as male and lived a large portion of my life as ftm trans. I still have a vagina. So you could say that I'm a gay ftm dating a twink, or you could say I'm a het girl with identity issues dating a twink.

He's cis and het and has only been with ciswomen before me. Doesn't change the fact that he's a twink, or that he's from San Francisco and very happy to make money off his twink appearance as a club boi while still preferring vagina. He's very comfortable being type cast.