With hesitation they each did so with a ‘Hey man, I love you’. Huffpost Gay Voices, where I read this piece, recently had a video in which several pairs of close friends had to say ‘I love you’ to each other just as, it was pointed out, girls do. Acceptance that sexual &, more broadly, emotional expression can vary by many degrees is breaking down the walls that built up around male-to-male contact. But, with the acceptance of gay men, particularly among the young we see the phenomenon of young male cuddling. I can see that the modern industrial/corporate age after WWII may be to blame for tightening men’s sexual identity & codes. I would say almost all the guys in these photos are just close friends and/or having fun. This is just a word that has come up recently to describe two really close straight friends. I read all the comments but didn’t see the word ‘bromance’ used in any.