this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2026
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Title. Well these days I've been feeling lonely, and I feel somewhere male friendships I have aren't that strong. I'll be honest, I don't have many female friends either, but I've been particularly felt disappointed by my male peers, especially when it comes to talking emotionally. What are your experiences?

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[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

My best friend (friends for about 40 years now) and I still talk a few times a month. His schedule has always been busy since he's a workaholic, but we always find time for each other.

We've talked most of our lives about emotional stuff, but he came out about 15 years, so I don't know how much that plays into him being more emotionally available. I'm straight but feel fine talking about personal stuff with people. I just know that stuff is important to talk about.

My other closest guy friend is more a typical dude. We've had some personal chats. He's kinda had like a prolonged 5 year split with his wife, so there's been a lot he's needed to get off his chest.

He doesn't like to get too open, but now that he's kinda living on his own (partial custody of kids) I've been trying to be really supportive of him because I know he's going through a lot and doesn't really have anyone else to talk to as most of his lifelong friends are 3 hours away. He kinda thanked me the other day for always being so positive and upbeat around him, so it seems to be working even if he can't always acknowledge it.

My brother is probably my next closest guy friend. We're very opposite in lifestyle, but humor-wise we are the same and we grew up the same crappy ways, so we get along well. He's much more social than I am, so he's busy a lot, but we still BS a few times a month and have dinner sometimes.

It's important to have bro friends. I have a good amount of female friends as well, but some things are just more bro-ish. The girls can give equally valid, if not better advice sometimes, but it's nice to have a guy to get another guy's opinion on things too.

I wouldn't just get all sobby on someone out of nowhere, but if you want to get more personal, just lean into it a bit and feel out how receptive people are. Sometimes, guy or girl, people are cautious about getting into someone's personal life, either they're insecure talking about personal things, or they don't wanna get blamed if they give advice that doesn't work out, etc, but you just gotta go for it in a reasonable manner if you want to be more open.