Just like how growing up I had an aunt Carol who lived with her best friend for 30 years. In a one bed room apartment. And for some reason she never found a husband. Go figure.
Same with my aunt. Her roommate then moved out and a new one moved in later. Whole town and family calls her a roommate. Refuses to accept she’s a lesbian.
When I came out as gay they disowned me. She also didn’t do anything.
Whatever you do, don’t say gay (especially in Florida)
The other historians have never had any friends so they can’t relate to close platonic relationships.
In fairness, for much of history it was perfectly normal for two people of the same gender to live together and eat together and sleep in the same bed and write affectionate letters to each other without that necessarily implying that they were lovers.
That, and the whole ritual pederasty. And that homosexuality was viewed really from a standpoint of power dynamics rather than uwu yaoi twinks.
The greeks had several more nuanced words that would all be translated to English as just “love,” and if Eros were used I don’t think this would be a debate, yes? The question is whether their relationship lines up with philia or whether that word was said with a deliberate wink, and that would be Homer’s own fault.
It’s always aggravating interesting to see this kind of contradictory interplay from the same people who are always talking about understanding other cultures properly instead of appropriating, and the need for absolutely any depiction of men behaving in a way that is consistent with normal human emotions like “being sad your friend died”. No. Unquestionably gay behavior.
You guys are really gonna tell me to my face that you could lose your childhood companion in battle and you just…wouldn’t do anything about it because it’s not like y’all were banging.
I mean, there is an ocean between doing nothing that your childhood friend died, and asking to be cremated in the same urn as the person you shared your bed with.
I grant that you’re right in that we shouldn’t project modern western ideas of sexual identity onto other cultures, but typically I see this conversation come up as a reaction or rebuttal to the assertion that this kind of behavior has no historical precedent.
Isnt it because they can never really be 100% sure about the feelings people who have been dead for centuries?
