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Article on a study that suggests that the rise in intimate, platonic male-male relationships could lead to less traditional relationships down the line. It's a bit of an interesting study because one of the things that many modern day feminists have been arguing is that men need to be more emotionally intimate with each other (something that's been backed up in other studies as well), but this study seems to indicate there could be some unforeseen consequences for women as a result.

http://nationalpost.com/health/rise-...tionship-study

The bromance may not be the progressive expression of enlightened masculinity, as it is sometimes described and portrayed in movies, said Adam White of the University of Bedfordshire in Britain.

Rather, it may be a regressive development, with especially worrying results for women. His research, based on interviews with male undergraduate students, concluded that men saw their female romantic partners as judgmental, and as “the primary regulators of their behaviour.” This led to a generalized disdain for women, and a view of romance in which men feel they are “constantly posturing and self-monitoring, not only to achieve desired heterosexual sex, but to prevent relationship destruction.”

The rise of the bromance “is very, very good for men,” White said. It offers young men the opportunity for, as the research found, “elevated emotional stability, enhanced emotional disclosure, social fulfilment and better conflict resolution, compared to the emotional lives they shared with girlfriends.”

“But it’s not necessarily benefiting women, and in fact it may well be disadvantaging them,” White said.