Why is hand holding between men/boys and kissing on the nose, rubbing your nose together seen as something sexual/ a signature that someone is in a relationship?
I noticed that in America if y’all see two people holding hands you would assume they were in a relationship and if you see two people kissing on the nose that it equals = sexual/romantic activity. And when you go to foreign countries and apply this logic, it rubs me the wrong way as in most cultures this is just seen as a gesture between friends.
For example in Nigeria, men or boys who are friends hold hands. It is not wrong to hold your friends hand if you’re male no one would assume you’re anything more. It is a simple common hand gesture that should not be interpreted as romantic/sexual. So if you have a Nigerian-American friend who identifies as a dude/boy and you see him holding hands with another dude you shouldn’t assume they are in a romantic relationship as they could just be friends! Hand holding is not sexual period.
tbh mood
it’s… really not fair to hold the entire world to one culture’s standards y’know?
also concerning affection and intimacy between men
i think the problem stems from toxic masculinity and homophobia
a lot of men are taught since they’re young that they cannot show any vulnerability because they’re men (which is some of the biggest bullsh*t i’ve heard but that’s not the point here), and so, they refrain from showing intimacy in any way, even physical
because intimacy means vulnerability, and vulnerability is something they don’t want
and yeah, holding hands isn’t that intimate, but holding onto someone is still showing a slight vulnerability
and as for homophobia
well homophobia and toxic masculinity go hand in hand (i can try to search for and link some stuff i used for a paper on the topic if anyone’s curious)
sometimes it’s not intimacy they fear, it’s appearing not cishet
and sometimes men who are in a relationship hold hands, of course
so, in fear to not be seen as cishet, these men will avoid showing ANY affection to their male friends, thus not helping the normalisation of platonic affection between men
We kiss people on the check as a greeting and are very affectionate in my country. I’m personally not into hand holding for my own reasons but it’s not sexual.
Affection ≠ sexual. Some may consider it intimate but intimacy ≠ sexual. Also not everyone considers it intimate, it may just be a natural act.
I used to hold hands with the older kids who walked me to my mom’s class when I was younger, nothing wrong with that. When I got older we used to hold hands with the younger students to help them cross the car park/road in our school. So ???
Also not every one is allo so to assume there MUST be a sexual connotation behind such things is um… yeah.
Fr like not everyone (a) perceives and feels sexual attraction in the same way (b) feels sexual attraction. Sadly this is often forgotten or ignored :’)
Americans see any remote affection or intimacy and label it romance because in America ppl ain’t that lovey in the slightest and so any sort of emotional value is viewed as romantic love because that is the only type of love you are allowed to feel here tbh.
For America they could be a lil more open minded
As a hispanic I’ve always been taught to go around the house at a gathering to hug everyone and say hi, goodbye when you leave too! Me and my family can be so dumbfounded by the fact that in the us they’re so cold.
There’s nothing wrong with the American culture but like it kinda lacks understanding, since that’s the whole point of the whole intimacy thing in other places.