youngbadmanbrown:girljanitor:Whether the men below were gay in the way our current culture understan
youngbadmanbrown:girljanitor:Whether the men below were gay in the way our current culture understands that idea, or in the way that they themselves understood it, is unknowable. What we do know is that the men would not have thought their poses and body language had anything at all to do with that question. What you see in the photographs was common, not rare; the photos are not about sexuality, but intimacy.-artofmanliness.comI came across this set of photos, and I highly encourage you to check them out.What struck me most was how the above portraits of men of color did not read to me as anachronistic as the ones of upper class white men. The article is about how what is considered culturally proper displays of affection between men has changed quite a bit over time. What the article neglects is that the biggest changes in affectionate display has been in upper class white men; I’d venture to say that there is more easy affection between men of color in America today from what I’ve observed myself.Some of the photos of white men from the set:If these photos are from the book I think they are (whose name I can’t remember) there should actually be a picture of Walt Whitman broing out with one of his bros in there too.When I was living in rural China around 1990, it was absolutely commonplace and not at all noteworthy for young men to express physical affection among friends, walking down the street holding hands or with arms draped over shoulders or other simple gestures of affection. I doubt this has changed in the Chinese countryside, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if urban centers in China are becoming more “Westernized” in the manner of interacting. -- source link