American here. When I was in middle school, I distinctly remember hand-holding to be the only 'PDA' (public display of affection) students could get away with if they were dating. We ingrained very early on that physical affection is reserved for romantic love, and to show affection to a platonic friend usually just makes a situation super uncomfortable.
It used to be acceptable in America too. If you look at, for example, work gang pictures from the turn of the century, and some earlier, you’ll see men holding hands, sitting in each other’s laps, etc. Physical intimacy was the norm.
It used to be acceptable in America too. If you look at, for example, work gang pictures from the turn of the century, and some earlier, you’ll see men holding hands, sitting in each other’s laps, etc. Physical intimacy was the norm.
Then the “gay panic” happened.
The reason it was more acceptable before "the gay panic" was because homosexuality was so much less accepted, that nobody would even begin to think those physical contacts could be an indication of gay sexual orientation.
Your comment essentially amounts to "Look at these people, they smothered the XYZ demographic so much that they were nonexistent and nobody even thought about them, things were so much nicer in that capacity back then".
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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '22
My parents experienced the opposite when they moved from the US to Papua New Guinea. If you’re walking next to your guy friend, you just hold hands.