As a man in his 50’s who grew up in the southern US, I rarely saw men showing any outward affection to their platonic male friends. Sure, you’d see a congratulatory pat on the butt playing sports, but that’s about it.
Interestingly, before that back in the 1940’s and 50’s, men were much more outwardly affectionate toward each other. I assumed the change was mainly due to societal pressures about homosexuality and the “hugging is for sissies” mentality. In the past 20 years that pendulum has swung back again and you see it more often.
So I’m curious what it’s like in your friend group? Are you uncomfortable with it? How do you tell your friends you love them? Or do you?
Edit: to clarify the title
I’ve found that while more casual affection might get you teased, most guys will absolutely be ok with and appreciate more serious moments. You need to be the one to break that barrier more often than not, but once you do, they tend to reciprocate since they now know you’re ‘safe’ and won’t judge them for it. I wouldn’t say my male friend group is super affectionate, but we’ve all hugged, cried together, told each other how much we care for each other, etc. And it’s not too infrequent either, but probably not as often as we should.