The New York Times Just Declared We’re Living in the ‘Age of the Twink’
In a new New York Times Style Magazine essay, Nick Haramis declared we’re living in the “age of the twink.” Haramis points to the popularity of actors like Timothée Chalamet or Ready Player One‘s Tye Sheridan. But is he right?
Haramis opens his essay by describing a scene from Call Me By Your Name — the volleyball scene in which Armie Hammer massages Chalamet’s shoulder. The writer compares the sizes of the two men — Hammer’s 6’5″ broad frame versus the smaller Chalamet. He describes Chalamet as “naturally smooth, with a pronounced clavicle and a concave torso. By gay male standards, he’s the ultimate twink.”
From there Haramis delineates the “several modern variations” of twink: the Euro-twinks, twunks (like Zac Efron) and femme twinks (like Adam Rippon). But Haramis gives most of the article’s word count over to “art twinks,” which he describes as “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.”
Haramis’ essay pits the twink as an alternative to “the lumbering, abusive oafs who have been dominating this year’s headlines.” (You know, like Kevin Spacey.) He describes how it’s the age of the twink, as twinks are becoming more mainstream. He also describes his “age of twinks” as a way of changing toxic masculinity from within.
But are articles like this one encouraging men to trade one type of unrealistic body image — the ripped gym rat — for another? As women have long known, when we make a body type — rather than clothing — fashionable, we’re setting impossible standards for people. (We’ve also noticed that, overall, Haramis’ examples are awfully short on melanin.)
Just as a natural “twink” is unlikely to get and stay buff without massive amounts of effort (if at all!), it’s unlikely that gym rat is able to become a twink. We’re just trading one type of misery for another. Instead of the age of the twink, isn’t it time for the age of being happy with your body, fat, thin, hairy or smooth?
That’s the age we’d like to see.
