Same Sex Friends Chapter 6 Summary
Chapter five describes who are the individuals that befriend gay men and where they meet. Although an overwhelming majority of gay men’s best and closest friends are other gay men, many have women friends and straight male friends. Gay men construct a network of friendships from an early stage from childhood through college to work and other public establishments and the place the friendship was started, will determine its limitations and dynamics but no matter the type of friendship because friends are often similar in terms of their values and their social status.
Chapter six presents the numerous ways that gay men talk about and define friendship. This chapter also covers the process of friendship, how they are formed and how they are …show more content…
It is unclear how exactly societies from the past perceived or viewed displays of affection among male friends since homosexuality wasn’t clearly defined. Perhaps displays of physical affection was commonly accepted under the belief that sexual experimentation with same sex friends was a practice of young males transcending into their roles with women as husbands. Even in early years of the after the formation of the United States, homosexual activity among male friends as tolerable; due in part perhaps to the large number of male immigrants who arrived alone in search of prosperity to later send for their families. When homosexuality was studied and defined by science and medicine it became more commonly used to describe sexual “inversion” and “perversion”. When heterosexuality was being defined, it became a category that would reject and separate itself from the aspect of intimacy and minimize the display of affection between men. The meaning of romantic friendship between men gradually changed. Shortly after, psychiatry viewed emotional attachment between men as evidence of a homosexual inclination and, therefore a sign of contracting a disease in need of treatment. The medical labeling of same sex intimacy as perverse combined the entire range of relationships and stigmatized all of them as a single, sexually deviant personal identity. Same sex relationships thus lost the innocence they had enjoyed in the
Chapter six presents the numerous ways that gay men talk about and define friendship. This chapter also covers the process of friendship, how they are formed and how they are …show more content…
It is unclear how exactly societies from the past perceived or viewed displays of affection among male friends since homosexuality wasn’t clearly defined. Perhaps displays of physical affection was commonly accepted under the belief that sexual experimentation with same sex friends was a practice of young males transcending into their roles with women as husbands. Even in early years of the after the formation of the United States, homosexual activity among male friends as tolerable; due in part perhaps to the large number of male immigrants who arrived alone in search of prosperity to later send for their families. When homosexuality was studied and defined by science and medicine it became more commonly used to describe sexual “inversion” and “perversion”. When heterosexuality was being defined, it became a category that would reject and separate itself from the aspect of intimacy and minimize the display of affection between men. The meaning of romantic friendship between men gradually changed. Shortly after, psychiatry viewed emotional attachment between men as evidence of a homosexual inclination and, therefore a sign of contracting a disease in need of treatment. The medical labeling of same sex intimacy as perverse combined the entire range of relationships and stigmatized all of them as a single, sexually deviant personal identity. Same sex relationships thus lost the innocence they had enjoyed in the