Obviously, social intimacy between men is not necessarily the preserve of societies with enlightened attitudes towards homosexuality, otherwise Saudi Arabia (where men hold hands) would be a bastion of tolerance. However, Pat Fitzpatrick of the University of Limerick's department of sociology believes that the lingering reticence about public displays of affection is not solely down to Irish men's fears that their sexuality might be compromised or questioned.
"Men tend to monitor and police their emotionality for anything that might appear feminine," he says. "So there would be a distancing from anything that contains expressions of femininity.
