repotting:

the answer to ‘guys won’t hug their friends cos they’re scared of seeming gay’ isn’t ‘remove the stigma by declaring it Straight’

it’s ‘get dudes to give up the homophobia that makes them treat gay people with such repulsion that even remotely resembling one is discouraged’

getting homophobic straight dudes to express affection for one another while leaving intact the violent homophobia that made them avoid it doesn’t solve the core issue

which is that straight dudes are such violent homophobes that they will literally cut themselves off from necessary emotional support in order to more effectively identify and isolate/attack gay men