They say it's lonely at the top, bloke.

Furry here, we do that stuff. It's pretty good, can recommend.

Also men used to do that a lot more, before the world wars.

Sometimes I lightly punch my friends in the balls to thank them for being vulnerable around me.

As a men with almost a bromance with his best friend... Frrrrrr.

Like, let's not even go as far as a hug (for many it's simply uncomfortable, whether it's with a man or a woman; I only hug my mother and my sister, for example xd), but there are other forms of intimacy and emotional support that shouldn't be tied to gender.

I mean, words of affirmation, the simple act of crying openly or expressing fears, anxieties, feelings or emotions, or expressing love or affection (platonically, as many mistakenly associate an "I love you" with something exclusive to romantic relationships); even just staying near to each other or hanging out with each other is a huge help.

Romanticism is something overrated and the same goes for sex, and I say this as someone who is alloromantic and allosexual.

And of course, they're for sure a genuine and legitimate, and overall valid way of social and emotional interaction and intimacy, but not the only one or the best one for everyone.

many men do have emotional support from friends and comradierie though. Oddly, the more macho and often homophobic they are, the more gay it seems.

because that's gay.

but for real, for every person that says men need to talk about their feelings and hug it out... you realize that there are 10 other people who would regard you as being gay/not a man for doing that, right? and that includes men and women.

real world is more complex than internet nerds want to believe.

Its so strange how that evolved too, my dad, who was silent generation and arguably one of the manliest men I have known, still did the back smacking one handed hugs with his close friends. When did men stop doing this?

That doesn't equal not lonely.

Much of the time it's a mask hiding how lonely they are.