Romantic friendship
Two Seated MenIn many societies, masculinity is understood to include open displays of same-sex non-sexual affection and physical contact. In other societies, such as the USA in recent times, such behavior is devalued and regarded as effete.
Anonymous photo, USA, ca. 1860
The term romantic friendship refers to a very close but non-sexual relationship between friends (usually, but not always, same-sex), often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that common in modern Western society, for example holding hands, cuddling and kissing, sleeping together, as well as open expressions of love for one another.
Romantic friendship was considered common and unremarkable in the West up until the second half of the 19th century, but after that time its open expression generally became much rarer as physical intimacy between non-sexual partners came to be regarded with anxiety, and the very phrase "romantic friendship" was almost forgotten. Only in very recent times has the concept and expression of romantic friendship begun to re-establish itself in the English-speaking world.