Queerty Icons: Total Twink-o-Rama

Now that we’ve had our favorite bears on parade, we now move on to their bodily antithesis, the twink. Where the bears prize a robust-bodied, hirsute hunks, the Twinkcus Juvenalis is known for his smooth, lean body, his baby face, and bountiful youthful energy. By definition, the twink is a young man, so more than a few of these entries have moved past their twinkish salad days, but we choose to remember them as forever young, forever taut, and forever a twink.

The Twink	How You Know Him	Why You Want to See Him After Class
Zac Efron	Well-scrubbed song-and-dance man-child from High School Musical and Hairspray	Those eyes! Those cheekbones! That sculpted physique! But Efron’s got the charisma and comic chops that may let him outlast other teen idols. Name us another tween-dream who can keep up with folks like Michelle Pfeiffer and Reno 911‘s Thomas Lennon. While Jesse McCartney’s splashing on the Rogaine, Efron could be kicking his career to the next level.
Daniel Radcliffe	Noted magician and equine enthusiast	While it feels a little pervy to lust after a guy whose trip through puberty has been documented like an evolutionary scale, Radcliffe’s proved he’s more than just a boy wizard.  He’s wowed audiences in London and New York with his starring role in Equus, and every interview we’ve seen of him proves that he’s just as well-spoken and clever as he is adorably bite-sized.
Tab Hunter	The original 50s pin-up boy	Prized for his sun-kissed, boy-next-door looks, Hunter shot to fame in the mid 50s. In addition to movies like Damn Yankees, Hunter also had a singing career, crooning hits like “Young Love.”  Hunter finally confirmed his homosexuality in his 2005 autobiography, but frankly, with fag hag “girlfriends” like Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood, it wasn’t that big of a surprise
Sal Mineo	James Dean’s moody sidekick	The go-to twink for disaffected youth, Sal was just as lithe and lean as we like our men, but with an undercurrent of sadness in his eyes. Coming out as bisexual in 1973, Mineo was murdered in 1976.  At least he got the chance to play a monkey in “Escape from the Planet of the Apes.”
David Cassidy	1970s bubblegum popster, rocking the back of the Partridge Family bus	He sings! He acts! He takes off his clothes for Annie Leibowitz! Cassidy’s lissome, hairless frame was the ultimate in groovy, non-threatening sexuality back in the day, but there was a bad-boy musician underneath, itching to get out. One sexy Rolling Stone cover photo later, the winsome rocker introduced America to his tantalizing happy trail
Jonathan Taylor Thomas	It’s “Tool Time,” bitches.	Pairing California surfer dude looks with a smoky, sultry voice that wouldn’t be out of place on a jazz chanteuse, Thomas was the reigning king of Tiger Beat centerfolds (that we stole from out sisters) in the Clinton Era.  But his turns playing gay in both Common Ground and Speedway Junky showed he wasn’t content just playing cartoon lions or Tim Allen-spawn.
Randy Harrison	Dewy-eyed soft-core ingénue on Showtime	Sure, on the British version his character, Justin, was a more scandalous 15-year-old, but at age 17 this horny high-schooler was risqué enough for us.  With his bee-stung lips and ceaseless libido, Harrison was the sex ed that many gay teens never got.
Justin Timberlake	The ne plus ultra of boybanders	Allow us to channel Sophia Petrillo for just a second: Picture it: Ohio, 1998. Nsync’s “Tearin’ Up My Heart” video comes on MTV. Justin Timberlake, wearing a tight, white wife-beater stares at the camera with bedroom eyes, his bare arm tucked under his head. We come rocketing to the realization that we really, really, really like other boys.
Leonardo DiCaprio	Former boating devotee and current kept boy of Martin Scorsese	Sure, he’s beefed up a bit since his days on The Beach, but DiCaprio in his faun-like heyday had few equals. His floppy hair and sinewy frame belied the serious acting chops that he showed in flicks like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Marvin’s Room. But circa 1997, what gay boy worth his glowsticks didn’t close his eyes and pretend to be Kate Winslet in the back of that Model-T?
Elijah Wood	Saucy hobbit	Our precious! Sure, he’s got that milky white skin, he’s scrumptiously teeny-tiny, but the eyes! We always come back those gorgeous, ice-blue saucers that are both eerie and sexy at the same time.  Plus, he’s got his own indie music label with hip acts like Apples in Stereo, so he can make you a killer mix-tape while he gives you his Bette Davis eyes.
The Twink	How You Know Him	Why You Want to See Him After Class