A friend of mine was recently told that he was ‘beautiful’ by another man. My friend is a man.
My friend realised in that moment that he couldn’t remember the last time that he was called beautiful. He posted a story on Instagram talking about how good it felt being called beautiful. Just in general too. Not even specifically that it was by another man. Who was straight, I might add, reluctantly.
Unfortunately, it feels important to make that clear because, my god, a lot of men these days are on the ropes. Persistently crippled by a fear of being seen as gay. In the same breath as exclaiming masculinity is all about strength and resilience. Which it can be, among other things.
So why the fear? Why so fragile? Who cares how another man views you? Doesn’t sound very ‘masculine’ at all. But yeah, two men exchanged beauty with no fear or worry. And my friend was taken aback. Again – not because he was told that by a man. Because he was told that in general.
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What’s more is that he was apprehensive about even publicly exclaiming how good that made him feel. Out of a fear that he would be “centring” himself. Or that him relaying the truth of his experience would somehow undermine or deflect from the very real dangers people face at the hands of men. He was scared to just say that he enjoyed being called beautiful on the basis it never happens. Is that not a little worrying? That he was worried?
I reached out to my friend because I had been delving into that conundrum. Coincidentally. I think about it a lot. What it means for society if we live in a time where the large majority of messages that we share about men are negative. I used to talk a lot of the concept of ‘toxic masculinity’. This was about six years ago. Back then, it felt like there was a clear differentiation between that term and masculinity itself. Nowadays I worry that it’s blended. Become enmeshed. I said back then that it was our responsibility to fix it. Us men. To encourage healthier behaviours. To not self destruct all of the time. And I still believe that.
So we shouldn’t feel that way about highlighting positive behaviour, for whatever reason. Men calling each other beautiful is a reclamation of authentic masculinity in my eyes. Intimacy isn’t supposed to derive entirely from sexual encounters or lie solely with partners. We are in desperate need of finding intimacy in male relationships. I believe that brotherhood, fatherhood and paternity is a communal responsibility.