misandry-mermaid:misandry-mermaid:outforhealth:Touch Isolation: How Homophobia Has Robbed All Men Of
misandry-mermaid:misandry-mermaid:outforhealth:Touch Isolation: How Homophobia Has Robbed All Men Of Touch“In America in particular, if a young man attempts gentle platonic contact with another young man, he faces a very real risk of homophobic backlash either by that person or by those who witness the contact. This is, in part, because we frame all contact by men as being intentionally sexual until proven otherwise. Couple this with the homophobia that runs rampant in our culture, and you get a recipe for increased touch isolation that damages the lives of the vast majority of men.And if you think men have always been hands-off with each other, have a look at an amazing collection of historic photos compiled by Brett and Kate McKay for an article they titled: Bosom Buddies: A Photo History of Male Affection. It’s a remarkable look at male camaraderie as expressed though physical touch in photos dating back to the earliest days of photography.”Platonic touch is crucial to human development and happiness, and this article discusses the damage done to everyone when two men can’t casually touch without fear of backlash, and when the burden of physical affection is solely placed on women.One interesting about modern Indian culture is that, because affection between couples in public is taboo, hand-holding and other platonic physical affection between same-sex friends is not sexualized or read as a gay act. So you can regularly see pairs of male or female friends walking down the street holding hands, or laying across each other at the park. It’s strange to see how the repression of romantic expression between straight couples has effected same-sex couples ability to express their friendship (or secret romance) in public.Here are some photos to illustrate the last point. Check out the guy’s shirt in the last pic btw -- source link
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