new level: bromance

B_henry miller

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Ironically, I think the need to come up with labels like "bromance" are a result of gay visibility these days. It's hard to explain, but bear with me and I'll try....

A while ago an older gay man told me that back in the 1950s and earlier things were different. Back then, gays were virtually invisible. Therefore, no one would believe that anyone they knew was really gay. Oddly, gay invisibility back then allowed for behavior by straight men that would today be labelled as "gay." A great example of this is the figure modeling that weight lifters used to do back then, such as Jack Lelane.

http://forum.bodybuildingpro.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4219&stc=1&d=1205052481

These days, gay visibility is the highest it's ever been. This is obviously good. But it is causing a shift where everyone is needing to label everything. I think this is why things like "bromance" come about. Back in a day when gay visibility was very low, few people would suspect that two close friends were secretly gay. Back in the 1950s two guys could probably have a bromance and have it just referred to as being "friends."
 
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