Mankeeping

 I have been writing about masculinity ever since I revived my blog seven years ago (see here, here and here). And. I have written about benign masculinity which prevents sensitive men who would identify as feminists from being emotionally and platonically intimate with other men. And, my views on the subject have also evolved. Earlier, I used to think that men should be enoucraged to form platnic relationships with women. But, I have realised that men can use women as therpaists even in platonic relationships. Yes, we all take the role of therapists occasionally with close friends. But, if the roles of therapist and client are not being interchanged from time to time then it not a balance relationship. And, it is easy for a cishet man to befriend a woman he is not physically attracted to and use her as a therapist. This evening, I read an article on "mankeeping"--a term which describes the act of women taking on the emotinal burden of supporting the men in their life as the latter fail to form intimate and nurturing relationships with other men. The article was in line with most of my opinions but the bit that surprised me was the descriptions of close friendships between cishet men that involved physical affection. I think most cishet men have no idea how to distinguish between sexual and non-sexual physical touch. Like, how can gay or bisexual women be physically affectionate with their female friends in a platonic manner.