Olly Alexander: The word ‘twink’ is pejorative

Years & Years singer Olly Alexander has discussed his status as a ‘twink’.

The 25-year-old singer has attracted a large fan following through the band’s string of hits, and is unafraid to be overtly sexual in music videos.

Speaking to Broadly, he opened up about the tendency for gay men to fancy ‘twinks’ – a term for young, slender men with little body hair.

He said: “I think the word ‘twink’ is pejorative. There’s something endemic about the gay community where we praise masculinity more than anything else.

He continued: “[Twinks are] powerless—they’re skinny and weak—but twinks can be pretty and cute.”

The singer has previously opened up about his “difficult” relationship with food as a teen, explaining he often skipped meals due to his body issues.

Alexander said: “I want to feel sexy with the body I have.

“I shouldn’t have to have muscles or look a certain way for society to say I’m sexy, but nobody’s really stood in the way of people taking my clothes off if I want to.”

The singer spoke out last month against homophobic abuse on Twitter.

He said: “[I get] the usual stuff – sometimes it’s homophobic, like gay hate.

“But I don’t understand why people ‘@’ me on Twitter to say ‘Olly Alexander can’t sing’ or ‘Olly Alexander, you’re ugly as f**k’.

“If we’ve been on TV I don’t go on Twitter for a while after. I get some people who are really gross and make rape jokes about me.”

“It’s f**ked up. That’s why I can’t read too much anymore because I don’t need to be seeing that shit.”

• Dec 31 2024

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