My personal pet hypothesis is that the rise of modern homophobic sentiment is what absolutely fucked men’s emotional expression. Guys used to hold hands and shit, and in some cultures they still do - but the association of that kind of emotiveness with being gay caused men to not only recoil from it, but to punish their peers and children for expressing it. The loss of brightly colored clothes and other forms of personal expression was the canary in the coal mine for this societal change.
My personal pet hypothesis is that the rise of modern homophobic sentiment is what absolutely fucked men’s emotional expression. Guys used to hold hands and shit, and in some cultures they still do - but the association of that kind of emotiveness with being gay caused men to not only recoil from it, but to punish their peers and children for expressing it. The loss of brightly colored clothes and other forms of personal expression was the canary in the coal mine for this societal change.