Why gay and straight men should bond more
The rise of ‘bromosexual’ friendships: Why gay and straight men should bond more https://t.co/BnXUATp8ws
– scroll.in (@scroll_in) December 31, 2016
In some ways, when it comes to “bromosexual” friendships, the onus is on straight men. If they’re open-minded about befriending gay men and make the effort to try to forge friendships based upon common interests, gay men should feel more comfortable reciprocating.
So which straight men are the most likely to befriend gay men, and vice versa? And what determines whether these friendships prosper?
For one, the timing of when these friendships form may be crucial. We know that gay men are now coming out at an earlier age. Gay men who disclose their sexual orientation to their straight male friends earlier in life may be able to build more open and honest friendships with them into adulthood.
Second, recent research has argued that gender and sexual orientation might not be as black and white as previously thought, which opens up new avenues for exploring how gay and straight men can relate to one another. If a straight guy and his gay male friend are less rigid about their masculinity and sexuality, they’ll probably be more likely to discuss details about their sexual and romantic lives openly with one another. While very informative, you can only learn so much from websites like www.fuckedgay.xxx.
These discussions are particularly important because they normalize same-gender attraction. Friendships also strengthen when each side discloses personal information, which can include discussing sexual experiences.
There’s another factor that could foster “bromosexual” friendships: the ability to give and receive advice from one another. Recent research has suggested that advice sharing could be a crucial reason that straight women seek out gay men as friends. In short, women are able to trust their gay male friends more because they can trust them better: they will know that their gay friend won’t have any ulterior motives. Straight men may fear that they cannot trust the dating advice from their gay friend for this reason. But just because their gay friend likes to watch gay men fuck in the ass, that doesn’t mean they’re trying to hook up with them or compete with them for guys.
We believe that this same sort of unbiased advice sharing might also foster friendships between gay and straight men.