Rather than viewing them as all queer, McKay suggests that we ponder the nature of their relationships: could they be brothers? Friends? Relatives? Co-workers? Military mates?

It’s an amazing collection, but while the men’s casual intimacy is stunning, Brett says that it’d be a mistake to assume that they’re all queer some of them may be, but he says it’s far more likely that they’re just sharing the physical closeness that men used to express before homosexuality got labeled as a “sinful” mental disorder and sexual identity later in the 20th century.ĭuring the 19th century, he says, men regularly formed deep and emotional friendships and bonds that weren’t necessarily sexual even though they used endearing language (like calling one another “my lovely boy”) and physical closeness: some guys regularly held hands, embraced one another from behind, sat on each other’s laps and shared a physical closeness that seems jarring to modern audiences.