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Gay-identified men expressed ambivalence about their After-Nine partners, desiring them for their masculinity, yet often feeling dissatisfied and exploited in their relationships with them. Based on targeted ethnography, including structured observations, key informant interviews and focus group discussions in two districts in Mpumalanga, we explored Black gay-identified men’s perceptions of and relationships with After-Nine men, focusing on sexual and gender identities and their social consequences. Some non-gay identified MSM are known colloquially by gay-identified men in Mpumalanga, South Africa, as “After-Nines” because they do not identify as gay and present as straight during the day but also have sex with other men at night. Twinks, bears, otters - what are these words actually describing? I don’t have the answer, and maybe none of us do, but it’s important we ask the question.There is considerable diversity, fluidity and complexity in the expressions of sexuality and gender among men who have sex with men (MSM). Because black men and white men have very different standard physical features. Opening up twinkdom to black people also requires opening up the qualifiers. If we are going to make queer culture more diverse, we need to seriously interrogate the language and tribes we have built up over the years. Of today, let’s say celebrities like sibling rap-duo Rae Sremmurd, model Reece King, and rapper Lil Yachty. Now that I think about it, my childhood love for Lil’ Romeo, Bow Wow, and Corbin Bleu probably had something to do with their twink-leaning qualities at the time (make of it what you want, but the child stars have interestingly all become more muscular as adults, closer to being “twunks”). Oh, and peak twink has always been Pharrell. And Prince never stopped being a twink, assless chaps and all. Images of Will Smith as the crop-top wearing Fresh Prince of Bel Air also come to mind. The OG black twink was probably Michael Jackson during his Thriller era, with his baby-smooth skin, soft, high-pitched voice, and skinny jeans.
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So lets come up with some black twinks, so the world can better imagine our existence. Now, problematics aside, imagine if “black” and “twink” were allowed to converge? We could call ourselves Blinks.
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Much like being a twink, that comes with its own set of sexual expectations and roles. The label I, and the boys I have been with, have always associated my looks with was this: Black. In fact, the thought of calling myself one never occurred to me, nor has anyone ever called me it. Yet I’ve never walked around calling myself a twink.
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I am skinny (from a fast-metabolism I can not overpower), 6’3, have dimples as deep as craters, and was once mockingly told by a guy I have “naivety” in my eyes. “In fact, I’ve felt undesirable and overlooked because of my lack of muscle and body hair.”Īs a queer black male, I have felt the same isolatation from twinkdom as Aaron. “From my experience as a young, thin, and naturally smooth gay black man, I never got the same praise as my white peers who share the same twink characteristics,” journalist Aaron Barksdale, 27, tells me, going on to highlight the fact black men are rarely allowed to take on feminine or vulnerable physical qualities. They just don’t get an entire porn category or article dedicated to them. Fantastic-esque arms can be found on a lot of black men (Ashton Sanders, Alfred Enoch, Playboy Carti). But the same sharp pelvis, jutting collarbone, and long, Mr. Timothée Chalamet’s lanky, “art twink” frame has inarguably contributed to the world’s infatuation with him. White men are not the only people to have slim, hairless bodies and boyish, puppy-dog features, but they are most frequently the ones exalted for “twinkish” physical qualities.