This thesis is a Heuristic Self-Search Inquiry (HSSI) that explores the personal experience of one gay man's participation in a gay male friendship group whose culturally constructed sense of being gay, characterised by specific places, customs and practices the researcher considers 'cultic'. The study is undertaken through the researcher who found himself outside a closed group of emotionally intimate gay friends, which represented an entire world. Using the HSSI model created by Sela-Smith (2002), this profoundly personal qualitative study considers the researcher's internal experiencing as the primary source of knowledge. Material from online images, academic papers and personal writing of the inquirer's lived experience of the research topic provided for periods of contemplative incubation and illumination, typical of HSSI. The output was the depiction of six emergent themes that highlight the qualities and nuances of the topic: pain, frustration, mistrust, joy, disgust and confusion. The other main findings are: this gay male friendship group developed characteristics of a symbolically enclosed cultic institution; that gay men are susceptible to forming cultic relationships; and a depth of distress experienced when intimate friendships between gay men fail. The findings finish by offering a creative synthesis, which captures the resultant integrated understanding of the experience in the form of a short story. Recommendations are made for counselling professionals to trouble their understanding of gay male friendship groups, and for public and third sector organisations working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) identifying peoples to begin discussing interpersonal issues inside LGBTQ populations.

Amicitia – Roman friendship – is delineated as an ideal reciprocal relationship between elite Roman males of fairly equal social standing. When individuals of unequal rank share this ideal reciprocal relationship, amicitia is labeled as “patronage” or “clientship”. This report seeks to test these ideals by examining the language of amicitia between individuals of equal and unequal rank in the plays of Terence. The results of this study show that Terence’s plays broaden the definition of amicitia to encompass a wide range of various friendships, including clientships. The language of amicitia supports the evidence available from late Republican and Imperial Rome that the measurement of reciprocity is indeterminate, amicitia and clientship share the same terminology of friendship, and that it can illuminate character development throughout the plays of Terence. / text

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 132 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-56).

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The present research included gender in Person-by-Situation interaction models in the study of interpersonal behavior and affect. An event-contingent recording methodology was used to measure behavior and affect across situations and over time in natural settings for a 20-day period with adult community samples. Three dyadic situations of personal relationships that varied in gender composition and emotional closeness were examined: same-sex friendships, opposite-sex friendships, and romantic relationships. / Traditional investigations of gender, disregarding situational factors, have determined that women are generally less agentic, more communal, and more emotional than men. The present research demonstrated that the interpersonal behavior of agency and communion were influenced by both situation and gender. In same-sex friendships, women and men behaved consistently with their gender-stereotypes: pairs of women were more communal than pairs of men and pairs of men were more agentic than pairs of women. In mixed-sex dyads, individuals did not behave consistently with gender-stereotypes. Women and men behaved similarly on agency and communion with opposite-sex friends. In interactions with a romantic partner, women behaved less communally than men. Personal relationship situations were found to moderate agentic and communal behaviors, demonstrating the plasticity and variability of gender role behaviors. / Pleasant and unpleasant affect intensity was influenced by situation but not gender. The present research demonstrated that women and men reported experiencing similar levels of affect across the relationship situations. As predicted, individuals experienced both greater pleasant and unpleasant affect in romantic relationships than friendships. / The current research confirmed that there is a need to move beyond the conception that the stereotypic characteristics of men and women reside within individuals. Gender should be included in Person-by-Situation interaction models, taking into consideration psychological and social factors that shape the expression of sex-differentiated behaviors and the experience of emotions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 4, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 322-361).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois, 1996. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-100).

My thesis argues that textually embedded intimacy and exclusivity between men opens up ethical problems concerning the use of education and persuasive powers—the ability to reconfigure vice as virtue, to argue a case for transgressions, and to navigate political, economic, and social spheres for personal self-advancement. My argument is based first on the proposition that masculine elite friendship in the early modern period is situated in specific pedagogical practices, engagement with particular rhetorical manuals and classical texts, and manipulation of texts which determine the affectionate, ‘textual', nature of these relationships. From this, I propose, second, that a hermeneutic process of rhetorical and poetic composition and exclusionary understanding is embedded within these textual relationships. From these two propositions, I analyse the textual surface of homosocial relationships in order to ask questions about ethical dilemmas concerning the forms of power they represent. How can an enclosed system of affection be useful for political, social, or financial advancement by making a vice (self-interest) of a virtue (fidelity), a dubious idea in the early modern period? How are homosocial networks developed and depicted through an engagement with their own textuality? Are they shown as transgressive and dangerous in further marginalizing those who are not privy to the system of textual exchange between men? The creation of homosocial male friendships is predicated on the idea that there are shared texts and methodologies for internalizing ideas from classical sources (imitatio) and for using these as starting points for the creation of arguments (inventio) to suit social, political, and even domestic situations. I focus on fictitious relationships developed in early modern English drama—as playwrights represent masculine discourse, textual knowledge, and rhetorical techniques. The friendships and fellowships in these dramatic productions contain questions about the use of masculine networks in socio-political and economic navigation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:37:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carolina Luz de Souza.pdf: 1095522 bytes, checksum: 4f3df90604b2d5d327eca685915e754c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-19 / The main goal of this paper was to understand the place of male friendship in Brazilian young men s lives. To do so, interviews were held with five participants between 20 and 30 years old, heterosexuals, graduated or graduating from college, from São Paulo s middle class. The analysis of the interviews was qualitative, based on Analytical Psychology theory. Trough the interviews, we realized that friendship is an important relation to these men. Friendship, according to the participants, offers help and protection, company, positive emotional experiences (such as acceptance, intimacy and proximity) and selfaffirmative experiences (such as loyalty, security and mutual validation). It s a symmetric relationship that has a lot in common with the fraternal bond but, different from the late, it s voluntary. It is experienced in some way throughout every person s life since it s an archetypical experience. The interviewed men describe friendship as a relationship that provides a real encounter beyond stereotyped life views and behaviors and promotes an environment of cooperation that allows the friends to go beyond the persona and reach for their totality. We understand that the participants are searching for the other, external (friend) or internal. A greater contact with the field of emotions, that was for such a long time banned from the conscious experience of masculinity, is possible because of theses relations. It seems that friendship, due to all the reasons exposed, is a way to individuation / O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de compreender o lugar que a amizade masculina ocupa na vida de jovens adultos brasileiros. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas semi estruturadas com cinco indivíduos entre 20 e 30 anos, heterossexuais, formados ou cursando o ensino superior, pertencentes à camada média paulistana. A análise das entrevistas foi qualitativa, baseada na Psicologia Analítica. Por meio das entrevistas, percebemos que a amizade é um relacionamento importante e valorizado por esses homens. A amizade, segundo os participantes, oferece ajuda e proteção, companhia, experiências emocionais positivas (como aceitação, intimidade e proximidade) e experiências auto afirmadoras (como lealdade, segurança e validação mútua). É uma relação simétrica muito parecida com o vínculo fraterno, mas que pressupõe uma voluntariedade que não é encontrada neste último. Por ser uma vivência arquetípica, é experienciada de uma forma ou de outra ao longo da vida de todos os indivíduos. A amizade é descrita pelos homens entrevistados como um relacionamento que privilegia um encontro verdadeiro, para além de visões de mundo e comportamentos estereotipados, que promove um ambiente de cooperação e acolhimento propício para que a interação ultrapasse o nível da persona e compreenda a totalidade do indivíduo. Vemos um movimento claro por parte de todos os participantes em busca do outro, seja esse outro exterior (o amigo) ou interior. Um contato maior com o mundo das emoções, por tanto tempo banido da vivência consciente da masculinidade, é possibilitado por essas relações. A amizade, pelos motivos expostos, parece estar a serviço da individuação

This study on the friendships of young men aimed to explore how young men perceive and experience their friendships. It also sought to understand whether and how young men negotiate issues of care and support in their friendships. The sample consisted of 10 students aged between 18 and 25 years old. The study was guided by a qualitative design. Semi - structured in - depth interviews were conducted with the young men. Thematic analysis was used as the method of data analysis. It was found that young men value elements within their friendships such as the opportunity to confide personal information, receive guidance and empathy from friends. The young men value care and support in their friendships, and these are expressed through both relational and instrumental means. While the young men acknowledge the importance of emotional support, they report that it is a precarious matter which needs to be negotiated within the friendship. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.