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.”
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