Gay Man

Gay Man

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Orientation:	Any
GxG Format:	NBM/M x NBM/M or NBM/M x #

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Genders:	Men/Male-aligned
Attracted To:	Men/Male-aligned

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Gay Man (also known as homosexual man, male homosexual, or vincian) is a term referring to men/male-aligned individuals who are attracted to men/male-aligned individuals.

History

See gay.

The term vincian was created by Tumblr user bivirgil on the 22nd of June, 2018. It was created an alternative to the term achillean, and the name was chosen due to its association with Leonardo da Vinci, who was believed to be a homosexual or bisexual man. The term inclusive vincian was created by Tumblr user kenochoric on the 25th of June, 2022. It was created to include unaligned non-binary individuals who love men and feel a connection to the term vincian.

Types of Gay Men

Bears

Bear is a subcultural term to define heavy-set, hairy (facial or body hair), masculine gay or bi men. It was coined by the Advocate, and first appeared in an article titled "Who's Who at the Zoo?" published on the 26th of July, 1979. The editors wrote:

BEARS ARE USUALLY hunky, chunky types reminiscent of railroad engineers and former football greats. They have larger chests and bellies than average, and notably muscular legs.

The term bear is often used as a positive affirmation to embrace one's own natural body and masculinity. Since coining, additional bear subtypes have been created and used to categorize other variations of masculinity in gay men. A 2013 study found that some bears were less likely to accept non-bears (feminine gay men) as sexual partners, instead preferring to partner with those who were also bears. The study also found that bears were more likely to engage in sexually diverse behavior.

The "Bear Brotherhood" flag was designed by Craig Byrnes in 1995. The flag consists of seven stripes; brown, orange, yellow, tan, white, grey and black. These colors represent the different colors of bear fur throughout the world.

Bear Subtypes

Term	Description	Flag	Creator
Big Teddy Bear	A hairy gay man who is heavier than grizzly bears.
Bear	A heavy-set, hairy, gay man.		Advocate, Craig Byrnes
Black Bear	A hairy gay man of color.
Cub	A young, hairy gay man. Sometimes used to imply one being a passive partner in a relationship.		gummysnom
Cygnet Swan	A snobbish, fashionable gay man who has difficulty in retaining long-term relationships.		Advocate
Dolphin	A slender, athletic, hairless bear.
Gazelle	A warm, heart-of-gold, risqué, sex-positive gay man who often pursues love and happiness.		Advocate
Grizzly Bear	A white, hairy, heavier gay man.
Marmoset	A smaller, attractive, aloof bear who may do well in design or business.		Advocate
Panda Bear	A hairy, Asian or Pacific Islander gay man.
Polar Bear	An older gay man with greying or white hair.
Pussycat	A bear-looking gay man but more shy. Not interested in sensual touching nor close relations.		Advocate
Sugar Bear	A gender non-conforming or feminine gay man.		gummysnom
Sugar Cub	A young, gender non-conforming or feminine gay man.		gummysnom
Owl	An older gay man who is sociable, "round in shape", and often wears outlandish clothing and jewelry.		Advocate
Wolf	An aggressive, more dominant, hairy, and slender bear.

Twinks

A twink is a gay or bisexual man who is young, thin, smaller-built, often white or Caucasian, and clean-shaven with relatively little or no body hair. The term originated from the 1950s but has no clear source. Some theories include: twink, being an alternation of the British slang word twank, an 1800-1900s term that refers to gay men who participated in sex work; twinketoes, a term used in the 1910s to belittle gay men.

Twinks have been hypersexualized throughout history, and are typically presented in porn as white or Caucasian, and aged between 16 and 25. Other stereotypes include twinks being shy, insecure, or naive regarding sex; this is hypothesized to be due to the expected age of twinks who have limited experience within sexual relations. These stereotypes have resulted in twink being considered a derogatory or controversial term by some. However it is still used for self-identification, and referred to in good-faith by many queer spaces.

Eduardo Almeida Medina, a community manager of an LGBTQ+ party in Spain reflected his frustrations via PinkNews:

I think it’s kind of strange, ’cause I’m 26 and I still having this kinda “baby face,” no beard, childish smile… so I guess for some, being a twink, looking like this is cool. I’m a grown man, but sometimes looking like this may lead people to treat me like a child. Sometimes that really pisses me off. That’s why I try to make my face more adult, shaving my head, and growing a moustache a bit.

Otter

Gay men that that are lean and hairy, sometimes regarded as having passive personalities. They are often defined as the middle between bears and twinks, not as hairy as a bear, and not as lean as a twink. Some consider otter to being the transitionary phase from twink to bear, as otters grow older and become more physically alike bears. Josh Olsen, a self-proclaimed otter defined an otter as the following via PinkNews:

Otters are the guy next door that has grown up a bit. They’ve become more sexually adventurous and experienced. Furthermore, the fact that they’re no longer pruning their body hair to such an extent may imply that they’re just more comfortable in their own skin, in their own body and with their personal level of hairiness.

Related Terms

Label	Relationship	Description	Difference
Achillean	Similar	A man or non-binary individual who is attracted to other men or non-binary individuals.	Achillean encompasses unaligned non-binary individuals, whereas gay man only refers to male-aligned non-binary individuals.
Faunic	Similar	Non-man attracted to other non-men.	Non-man includes genders such as genderless and anonbinary genders, whereas gay man only specifies man-aligned genders.
Floric	Similar	Non-woman attracted to other non-women.	Gay men can additionally be woman-aligned, whether because they have multiple genders, or are genderfluid.
Lesbian	Counterpart	An individual with queer attraction to women.	Lesbian is the woman/female equivalent to gay man.
Straight	Opposite	Attraction to the opposite or dissimilar gender(s).	Straight refers to different gender attraction, whereas gay refers to similar gender attraction.
Turian/Veldian	Similar	An individual with queer attraction to men.	Queer as a type of attraction is more inclusive and purposefully vague.
Uranian	Similar	A historical term used for gay men.	Uranian is an older term with its own unique history.

Flags and Symbols

The most popular gay man flag was created by Tumblr user gayflagblog in coordination with the original gay man flag creator Mod Hermy and anonymous, on the 10th of July, 2019. These adjustments were made due to the original flag having no meaning behind the stripes, as well as it being a recolor of the lipstick lesbian flag. The meanings chosen relate closely to the original LGBT rainbow flag created by Gilbert Baker, as well as the transgender flag by Monica Helms. The top three stripes represent community, healing, and joy; the middle white stripe represents gender non-conforming individuals, non-binary individuals, and transgender men; and the bottom three stripes represent pure love, fortitude, and diversity.

The green and teal represent represent nature, as love between men is often seen as "unnatural" in heteronormative society and religion. Additionally, carnations and hyacinths (green flowers and plants) have been used to symbolize love between gay men. The purple and indigo stripes represent diversity in presentation, relationships, and life experience, and represents the varying ways one can be a man or be in love with a man. Purple was chosen as a mix of red and blue, to combat the criticism of blue being the typical color for men. The mix of blue represents those who might match stereotypes, and the mix of red represents those who don't.

The gay man flag was created by queer_masculist and sashafoxx, and published on the 9th of October, 2018, in a VKontakte group to combat gayphobia (homophobia against men). The blue, sky-blue, and azure shades were chosen to represent masculinity, and is an analogue of the traditional lesbian flag.

Another gay man flag was made by Tumblr user Mod Hermy and anonymous on the 24th of August, 2016. It was originally intended to be a suggestion but was recirculated by an alleged transmedicalist. As credit was not given in their post, some believed the re-poster to be the creator of the flag. The simplified version of this flag was created by Tumblr user Gee-Makes-Flags.

On the 15th of August, 2020, Twitter user ianostaqui published two warmer versions of the flags by -undeadedits, one with seven stripes and another with five stripes. They adjusted the colors to include pink and warmer greens, as to bring together various historical symbols including: green representing homosexual affiliations, white representing gender non-conforming, transgender, and non-binary gays, and purple being a blend of feminine pink and masculine blue.

Another gay man and vincian flag was designed by Tumblr user charaviolet on the 5th of June, 2021. The stripes represent gender non-conformity, sexuality and sensuality, NBLM and transgender men, strength and community, and peace and love. The flag is based on a variety of other gay male subcultures, including:

• The pink stripe, which is present on the twink flag, as well as the crown present in the drag flag. Pink is also a color that has been used throghout history to represent gay men;
• The peach stripe is to resemble the bear flag's ambers and browns, while remaining congruent with the aesthetics of the flag;
• The pale yellow stripe present on both the twink and bear flag;
• The pale azure stripe present in the achillean flag, as well as many other gender flags that represent masculinity;
• The lavender also present in the drag flag, and when compared to the above azure stripe, it can resemble the colors used in the bisexual flag, leather flag, genderfluid flag, and more.

Overall, the colors form a pastel rainbow, referencing how the LGBT rainbow flag was originally the only flag that represented gay men, as well as how pastel, iridescence and unicorns are often used as symbols for the community.

The inclusive vincian flag was created by Tumblr user kenochoric, on the 25th of June, 2022. A pansy is used as a reclamation of its previous derogatory usage that targeted mlm and other queer individuals. The colors were inspired by the original vincian flag.

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  Gay Man Flag (queer_masculist and sashafoxx)

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  Gay Man Flag (Mod Hermy and anonymous)

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  Simplified Version of Mod Hermy's Flag (Gee-Makes-Flags)

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  Gay Man Flag (ianostaqui)

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  Gay Man Flag Simplified (ianostaqui)

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  Gay Man Flag (charaviolet)

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  Inclusive Vincian (kenochoric)