Men’s Issues: Fear of Intimacy
Men in our society — and especially men who struggle with alcoholism and addiction — are trained to “tough it out” or “man up” or similar archaic nonsense. Because of the subculture surrounding abusive drinking and drug use, men are not allowed to have feelings, get close to people, or open up. Men are told in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that they cannot be themselves. It isn’t masculine to have emotions. It’s not manly to have close male friends — we can only have “bros” and “dudes” that we “hang” or “chill” with. We’re not supposed to have close companions with whom we can share our hopes, fears, and dreams. And as far as relationships and significant others go, forget about it. We can’t tell a person who we’re dating that we have fears, or they’ll never see us as manly again. Thank heavens these ridiculous and destructive attitudes are…
