Inspired to have close male friendships

[Scipio]

I just read this article:

The History of Male Friendships | The Art of Manliness (It's probably necessary to at least briefly scan it to understand what I'm aiming for). After reading it, I realized what friendships between men could be, but are rare today because of all sorts of silly beliefs.

How do I cultivate this type of friendship with other men? The problem is, most men will be scared away if we become very close, or I reveal my emotions or ask him to reveal his, etc. Even a lot of really conscious men would be hard to have really close friendships with, as they're usually focussed on their intellectual development, education, productivity and value giving, yet don't really bother to evaluate this area of their life.

Today, a "really close" friendship is just one with a guy you can trust, who do you a lot of activities with, and do a slight amount of comforting for when he's down. Yet male-female relationships are often much emotionally closer (in my experience), or at least, male-male friendships are delimited in certain ways unnecessarily, even if they are close.

[Gabo]

To be honest, I think it's just a combination of time and the person. Most guys put up a wall to protect against being declared gay, but once you develop a really strong friendship and trust, that wall will be lowered. I think it is different for every guy, and some are just more comfortable with closeness than others. It really is sad the way male relationships are portrayed by the media and by modern culture.

[Eduard E]

I have a lot of female friends, but my best friends are all male. I probably could never connect with a woman the way I connect with these guys, even if women in general are more sociable and emotional. But I think it takes a certain type of guys with which you can do this. Men who are open, self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and have a lot of core values in common with you.