Abstract
Traditionally, scholarship on men and masculinities has promoted the association of masculinity with emotional repression and containment. Moreover, emotional expressivity by men, when acknowledged, has usually been considered either apolitical or even politically conservative. However, this article attempts to question such traditional (mis)conceptions by exposing not only the existence but also the subversive political potential of men's emotions in American culture and literature. In particular, the study posits that strong emotional attachments between men could contribute not only to enriching men's emotional lives but also, and above all, to erasing sexism, racism, and homophobia from our societies. It is argued, therefore, that men's friendships with other men might play a fundamental role in promoting greater social equality, as American literature illustrates.
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