Follow up to last post. Cohen argues that homophobia, and its cousin, homohysteria, or the fear of being thought homosexual because of behavior that is typically considered gender atypical, conspire against close male friendships in the (dis)United States.

At the same time, she writes:

Homophobia has declined over the last few decades, and with less stigma attached to being gay, researchers have found that homohysteria has eroded too.”

Given those complimentary trends, maybe younger men stand a better chance of developing more robust systems of support than in the past.

Or maybe Cohen and the researchers she cites are almost exclusively coastal elites who are slighting the cultural impediments that continue to rob men of emotional intimacy throughout large swaths of the fruited plains.