Chickenhawk (gay slang)

A chickenhawk or chicken hawk is slang used in American and British gay culture to denote older males who prefer younger males for partners, who may less often be called "chickens", i.e. the prey of the chickenhawk. Other variations include chicken queen and chicken plucker.

It is sometimes used as a disparaging vulgarity within the LGBT community, or seen as a sexual slur against people in that community. The label can also be applied to a man who seeks partners with the look of someone young, regardless of their target's age.

Much less frequently, "chickenhawk" indicates a man who uses underage boys for his sexual pleasure. The usage was publicized by members of the controversial group NAMBLA in the 1994 documentary film Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys, although Time magazine reported it in this sense in 1975.

The use and significance of this term have been the subject of academic discussions as well as popular reports.

Usage

 * "Stephen Holden of the New York Times got pretty darn perturbed about Larry Clark’s Wassup Rockers, branding it a “chicken hawk” movie. It can’t be denied that Clark’s latest opus serves up the requisite lot of bare-chested teen boys, a twink (gay slang) motif going back to Clark’s 1971 photo classic, Tulsa. Yet I found it hard to get mad at Wassup Rockers, which opens this Friday at the Kendall Square. Its grimy-old-man ogling seems harmless — Clark’s feelings for his underage cast appear more affectionate and avuncular than exploitative."


 * "They were joined onstage by Vance Nichols, who plays Nicholas, a male twink who’s more than a bit dim witted; Jon Lasister (Bobby), the stage manager of the drag show; Steven Greiner (Madeline McCray) who plays the role of Tony, drag diva Miss Tiki Torchsong; and Danny Proctor (Ray) who’s a chicken hawk club owner."


 * "Where have we heard this before? Blame it on drugs and booze. I have trouble text messaging while sober. But now we are hearing that Congressman Mark Foley was a master of the BlackBerry as an alcoholic. It appears that for the powerful and important Foley, the effects of alcoholism were quite selective: freeing only his inner Chicken Hawk."