how many male companions they’ve had.
For hetero males the usual term for male companions is “close friends”. I bet the great majority have some.
But go ask some hetero women whether they think sex and companionship are well-separable :-/
Also I get the feeling 21th century Americans have fewer close friends than the historical human norm.
I don’t know what the “historical human norm” is and I suspect there is a lot of variation there.
Try reading literature written before the past 50 years and preferably before the 20th century. That will give you an idea.
Try reading literature written before the past 50 years and preferably before the 20th century.
I am afraid Victorian England is not all that representative of the historical human norm.
I wasn’t primarily thinking of Victorian England. Also “before the 20th century” isn’t just the 19th century.
In Finnish the connotations of “companion” are more obviously sexual I see, at least in my circles.
It’s probably a language issue, in standard English the word “companion” has no sexual overtones.
More to the point, this subthread is explicitly about separating sex from companionship.
For hetero males the usual term for male companions is “close friends”. I bet the great majority have some.
But go ask some hetero women whether they think sex and companionship are well-separable :-/
Also I get the feeling 21th century Americans have fewer close friends than the historical human norm.
I don’t know what the “historical human norm” is and I suspect there is a lot of variation there.
Try reading literature written before the past 50 years and preferably before the 20th century. That will give you an idea.
I am afraid Victorian England is not all that representative of the historical human norm.
I wasn’t primarily thinking of Victorian England. Also “before the 20th century” isn’t just the 19th century.
In Finnish the connotations of “companion” are more obviously sexual I see, at least in my circles.
It’s probably a language issue, in standard English the word “companion” has no sexual overtones.
More to the point, this subthread is explicitly about separating sex from companionship.