My friend protested: “He’s 30! He’s too old to be a twink.” Then we thought about it. “I don’t even know what that term means anymore,” he said. Like “bear,” “twink” actually refers to a specific category of gay men: one some level mildly effeminate, and definitely skinny and hairless - and roughly between the ages of 18 and 25. In the UK - and this is a phrase that fell out of favor in the U.S. years ago, because it’s kind of gross - the more common word for twink is “chicken,” and a man who preys on them is a “chicken-hawk.” But while other (and newer) gay categories, like “otter” or “wolf,” are merely descriptive, and self-assigned, “twink” is almost always meant as an insult.
It’s never a self-descriptor, unless used self-effacingly.
