This saturday I went to a party at ADP. The alcohol level was fairly high by the time I arrived. As I was in line to get a beer a guy in front of me suddenly turned around. He wore a baseball cap, a shirt that indicated his affiliation with some sports team and by his stature I assumed he’s either on the football or rugby team. He yelled “Heeeyy maaannn” and gave me a hug – out of the blue. I’ve never met this guy. Once he was done huggin me he looked me in the eye and said: “Maaan, you’re beautiful.”
Okay, I do not want to overanalyze this but here is my thought: I really wasn’t familiar with the concept of “Bros”. I knew about jocks and I guess bros extend the jock culture beyond the athletic aspect (Is that so? Illuminate me!). Here’s my observation – isn’t there a bit of a…I don’t know, romantic kinda vibe to it? I see these guys hugging each other all the time, making jokes about being gay. One could deem that homophobic but it strikes me as rather homoerotic.
Watching films like I love you man or The Hangover I kind of see a shifting tone between guy friends and how they act out their masculinity together. I’m not at all involved in the Bro-scene but from what I see there is quite a bit of PDA happening, especially when there’s alcohol involved. Now, I’m certainly by no means saying they’re all gay – mmh, it is Middlebury though – but I find it interesting and even a bit endearing how these guys relate to each other. In a way they’re using what could be seen as gay slurs to profess their affection for each other. What do you think?
I don’t mean to take the opposite stance, because you have a pretty refreshing viewpoint from the one I usually take on Bros and Brocks (bro-jocks). I like it. But at night, when people are drinking, they tend to get sappy and suddenly feel the need to express their philial love by telling all their friends and hugging them repeatedly. The bros, the brocks, the hippsters, the farmer-chicks, even the girl with the lumpy sweater in the corner — everyone can get this way.
But maybe bros especially enjoy drinking with their buddies because it gives them a chance to express their love, romantic or otherwise, to their buds without feeling awkward or insincere?
One popular term comes to mind: bro-mance.
Perhaps this is just a revised masculinity that is becoming popular because “macho” guys are able to act much more sensitive towards their close friends without worrying about being perceived as overly feminine… meaning donning a “bro-mance” guise allows them to express themselves in manners that would otherwise be considered taboo in their macho sports culture.
Or maybe society is simply becoming much more comfortable with defying gender-stereotypes!