“to perpetuate the idea that all same-sex roommates, be they puppet or human, must necessarily be a gay couple ... Such assumptions narrow the aperture of what we understand as heterosexual masculinity in a really strange way.”
Exactly. I’ve noticed the effects that gay activism has had on my generation, and generally its made straight men paranoid of anything being remotely considered “gay”. The kind of close friendships seen between male friends in previous generations are now all viewed as suspicious and unmanly, and I don’t think it’s done any good at all.
The same is true for females. I recall a time when girlfriends (in the true sense of that word) would walk arm in arm down the street. Today, that could be interpreted as two lesbians sharing a special moment.
I was quite shocked the other morning when a Tide commercial came on tv. The commercial portrays an ultra-feminine mother, bemoaning her daughter's aversion to pink and affinity for a favored camo-hoodie. The mom expresses her disappointment that the laundry detergent got a stain out of her daughter's tomboyish outfit (which she apparently would have preferred to toss). Here is the commercial. You be the judge. IMO, this is caving to the homosexual agenda.
I posted on how the Left exploited and perverted the normal strong same-sex friendships most people were blessed to experience in adolescence and early adulthood — the “best friend” that often became a life-long friend.
Since the Left equates any kind of love with the requirement that it must be expressed by having sex, a whole range of normal, emotionally, psychologically and socially healthy “love” relationships become perverted or avoided.
It’s almost impossible these days for two same-sex friends to live together or take a vacation together without getting the same reaction Bert & Ernie got here.
Many social scientists who study homosexuality say that one of the core social problems of homosexual men is fear of having true nonsexual friendships with other men.