Chicken (gay slang)

Chicken can be used, usually by gay men referring to other gay men, to mean a young gay man or young appearing gay man. Stereotypically describing a gay man barely out of adolescence who does not show much of any body hair or well-defined muscle-development. Most would consider a young man of barely-legal age or appearing to be very young and having an innocent nature.

Author Bruce Rodgers defines the term as "1. any boy under the age of consent, heterosexual, fair of face, and unfamiliar with homosexuality ("So many chickens were flapping around that I thought we were touring Colonel Sanders' plantation”) 2. juvenile, youthful, young-looking. Others have defined it as a young man who engages in sex for money or favors.

Recently, some conservative Americans began defining the term itself as gay pedophile related. In the subculture of the gay community which uses handkerchiefs or bandannas as a code, people who identify as "Chicken" wear a Kewpie doll in their left back pocket. Those who are interested in young men - referred to as [[Chickenhawk (gay slang)]chickenhawks] - are denoted in the hanky code as wearing one on the right.

The term has existed in the gay vernacular for many decades, and is still used today. David Henry Sterry, a former prostitute turned actor and director, titled his 2005 memoir, Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent. Author Philip Herbst traces its origin to the 19th century, where it was used to describe the youngest sailors on a ship, who were often used for sexual purposes.