Male bonding

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In ethology and social science, male bonding is the formation of close personal relationships, and patterns of friendship or cooperation between males.

In the context of human relationships, male bonding is used to describe friendship between men, or the way in which men befriend each other. The expression is sometimes used synonymously with the word camaraderie. The first widely noticed use of the term was in Men in Groups (1969; 2004) by anthropologist Lionel Tiger.

Male bonding can take place in various locations such as gyms, locker rooms, sport fields or courts, battlefields, fraternities, and barbershops. This can include playing musical instruments, military activities, video games, business ventures, creative endeavors, journeys, quests, sporting activities, fishing, hunting, camping, gambling, social drinking, smoking cigars, working with tools, or even just conversing.

See also

• Cross-sex friendship

Further reading

• Brehm, S.S., Miller, R.S., Perlman, D. & Campbell, S.M. (1992). Intimate relationships. Third edition, chapter 7: paragraph about "gender differences in same-sex friendships", pp. 212–213.
• Fanning, Patrick & McKay, Matthew. (1993). Being a friend: Making and keeping male friends. In Being a man: A guide to the new masculinity (pp. 108–125). Oakland, California: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
• Garfinkel, Perry. (1992). "In a man's world: Father, son, brother, friend, and other roles men play." Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press.
• Miller, Stuart. (1986). "Men & friendship." Bath, England: Gateway Books.
• Nardi, Peter. (1999). Gay Men's Friendships: Invincible Communities. U. of Chicago Press.
• Nardi, Peter. (1992). "Men's friendships" (Research on men and masculinities series). Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.
• Pasick, Robert S. (1990). Friendship between men. In Meth, Richard L., Pasick, Robert S., et al., Men in therapy: The challenge of change (pp. 108–127). New York: The Guilford Press.
• Pasick, Robert S. (1992). Staying awake: The importance of friendship. In Awakening from the deep sleep: A powerful guide for courageous men (pp. 222–244). San Francisco, California: HarperSanFrancisco (A division of HarperCollins, Publishers).
• Wrangham, R. & Peterson, D. (1996). Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Lionel Tiger, Men in Groups, Random House 1969; Transaction, 2004
• Potvin, John. (2008) Material and Visual Cultures Beyond Male Bonding, 1870–1914. Hampshire England, Ashgate Publishing Limited