Gay tribes
The Guysexual’s Guide To Gay Tribes And What They Mean
Kartik is having an existential crisis.
What is it? The inevitability of death? The crushing loneliness of realising all humans inherently are and will die alone? The meaninglessness of his dead-end job? The purpose of life? I’ve clearly thought this through.
Kartik shrugs, it’s worse. He doesn’t grasp what his lgbtq+ tribe is.
What is a gay tribe?
No, a gay tribe is not a group of still-surviving, nomadic queer men. A tribe is, in fact, a social grouping of gay men based solely on their ~body type~ key physical characteristics. Also a feature of Grindr’s profile settings, tribes exist to facilitate you find men you are attracted to, based on the quantity of hair on their bodies, and muscle on their bulk.
You start off with some pretty self-explanatory stereotypes: Twinks, Femmes, Geeks, Jocks and Daddies. And then in descending command of size/hair (yes, hair) and kink, you’ve got Bears, Wolves, Cubs and Otters. Is this marginalising the lgbtq+ community or moulding a human zoo?
Kartik thinks that homosexual men shouldn’t be sorted into tribes according to their body type; this isn’t Hogwarts. He also finds it hard to relate to any one
LGBT+
It seems to me that a lot of people don’t comprehend much about the gay tribes, at least on this app. I want to be fit to help and provide some insight!
First Off: What Are Homosexual Tribes?
The gay tribes are terms that are used by lgbtq+ and bisexual men, in homosexual communities. They are key words meant to describe different men’s body types, and helps for men to find the kinds of men they enjoy to be around visually. These are casual terms, not every lgbtq+ or bisexual man uses them, and they’re dominantly for fun.
What Are The Gay Tribes?
(In no particular order)
1) Bears
Bears are the picture of masculinity in men. The body type they hold is being hairy and huge, either through muscle or fat.
A younger version is called a Cub.
2) Otters
Otters are similar to bears in that they are also hairy. However, they are usually more slender, and often more toned than a bear.
3) Jock
The jock type are men who are extremely fit, and are very into physical health.
4) Show Queen
This is the queenly queen, a popular group in the gay men’s community. Queenly, music, show, and performance are traits to this, less about body type.
5) Twinks
This group is full of young, slender boys.
Gay Tribes and What they Mean - Blog Explores
What gay tribe are you? Queer in the World blog reports on the different ways in which gay men sometimes define themselves. They say "Although the framework of gay tribes has sometimes been criticized as unnecessarily labeling men in the gay community and trying to put them into boxes they may not fit into, the concept of gay men dividing themselves into groups under specific names is much older than digital dating apps. For example, the bear category, which today is accepted as one of the gay tribes, dates back to the late 1970s and adv 1980s, when closeted homosexual men gave themselves such identifiers and met at parties and over the newly emerging Internet." As long as there is mutual respect for unlike stages of life, of body type and characteristics, these shorthand ways of defining each other can build community and love. So, bears, twinks, otters, wolves and chubs unite. Check out the Gay in the World Blog to learn more about the many different tribes of gay men and what characteristics they might have. https://queerintheworld.com/gay-tribes-defined/
Types
Some gay men apply types to illustrate, identify and interact themselves. Who hasn't heard someone speak “he’s my type" or been asked if a guy is yours? There is always some disagreement around the terms we employ and whether we should use them at all.
Therefore, you should be sensitive if applying a type to someone, bearing in consciousness some gay men reject them altogether as narrow, superficial, and demeaning. Equally, some use types affectionately and as a convenient shorthand.
It's a bit of a bear pit (no pun intended), but here's our take on types, though you are perfectly entitled to throw them out and be your own gay, your own homo, homosexual, etc.
Physical types and personal characteristics
Some guys are primarily attracted to physical types of gay men (eg: bears, twinks, and muscle guys) while some locate characteristics in men most attractive (eg: warmth, intelligence, and humour). Others mix and match and understanding these distinctions is important.
For example, the type(s) of men we discover attractive sexually may not necessarily be the qualities we are looking for to sustain a relationship. Trouble is, we can fetch so caught up in a type we can surrender sight that not far ben