Andrew Tobias’ 1976 memoir, The Best Little Boy In The World, is a frank account of life as a young, closeted gay man. In the words of the New York Times, the figure of the “best little boy in the world” has come to represent sort of “closeted gay Everyman,” an overachiever who conceals his sexuality behind his impressive success. As Tobias put it:
The best little boy in the world never had wet dreams or masturbated; he always topped his class, honored mom and dad, deferred to elders and excelled in sports . . . . The best little boy in the world was . . . the model IBM exec . . . The best little boy in the world was a closet case who “never read anything about homosexuality.”
A study just published in Basic and Applied Social Psychology pretty much confirms this: according to its findings, men who identify as belonging to a “sexual minority” (i.e., not straight) tend to base their self-worth more on academics, appearance, and competition more than straight men do. In addition, young men who have been concealing their sexual identity for longer tend to be more invested in these things, as do those who live in areas where the stigma is more extreme. (Maybe because this concept isn’t seen as quite as integral to the lesbian coming of age story, no women were included in this study — which sucks, but there’s always next time to include women.)