When it comes to tribes, some people think they’re exclusionary or arbitrary and lead to gatekeeping, on the other hand they can be helpful to identify our preferences. At the avoidance of getting very technical or complicated descriptions of body parameters, these imperfect labels seem to still be accepted widely by the gay community.

While sometimes people wouldn’t strictly fall into the idea that most most people would consider matching that identity, many people would probably not think too much of it (ie having some hair and extra padding, but not being hairy enough to look like a bear or having a few extra pounds for being a twink, but not being overly chubby or having some defined musculature, but not being as muscled as a jock).

What do you think about when someone identifies far outside what most people consider the attributes of the look. For example, a morbidly obese hairy guy calling himself a twink or a hairless guy calling themselves a bear or a thin guy calling himself a chub (for reference, these are all actual examples). Do you feel that these identities are just arbitrary and nebulous and that anyone can call themselves whatever they want and you’ll buy that? Or do you tell yourself, now way or even think they’re somewhat delusional?