Can Gays And Straights Be Friends Summary

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The Lack of Male Intimacy

As I sit in the auditorium of the school I attend, I listen to the speaker of the day make his fatal mistake. He has done well up until now, relating to us only facts and ideas. Now, he has suffered from a lapse in judgment, and seems to have forgotten his surroundings - an all male audience. He has the audacity to display genuine, vulnerable emotion. I wait for the response I know he will get. The sound fills my ears. The all male audience brings forth a sarcastic and mocking chorus of "awwwwwww."

One could not imagine the same event transpiring in an all female group. It is pretty much commonly accepted that men do not show emotion. It is pretty much commonly accepted among men that men should not show …show more content…

Some men are criticized for having a fear of intimacy. The sheer fact that the term is used as one of criticism, rather than just one of reality, shows that many men do not have the problem, and that some women prefer men who are ready to share their emotions. Some men are addressing the issue directly. In the essay "Can Gays and Straights be Friends?", Paul Monette states, "We make terrific friends, we queers, perhaps because we have traveled so far to reach the free country of the heart. All men deserve to live there." That he speaks of homosexuals and heterosexuals is secondary to his idea that all men deserve to live openly, which involves expressing emotions. Men expressing themselves emotionally can be seen in plenty of other places. If one listens to the radio, they are bound to hear a number of songs about sex, and probably an equal number about love or other emotions. All sung by males. The same is true of other mediums of pop culture, such as movies and television. As these images become more visible, men are more likely to feel comfortable about the idea of men revealing their emotions. While there is not an equal number of men secure with expressing their emotions as women, there is a much higher instance than in previous

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