I am struck that this article is a, perhaps more sophisticated, version of Iron John, FIre in the Belly, and the Sibling Society, all by Robert Bly, all fro the 90's. I thought them over done when I read them. Maybe I am wrong about that but maybe this article is wrong too. It might be overlooking life outside of the ivory towers. Sure, it is not easy anymore to gather a couple of guys around the concept of writing poetry or composing for Broadway. But if you live in a little, blue collar, Ohio village and you put an old Ford PU truck on blocks and back the engine hoist up to the hood, you and your neighbor men will have a great afternoon of friendship coming your way. The same goes for cold winter Saturdays with snow mobiles - for that matter, there are plenty of hunting trips to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as well as 4 wheeler weekend trips to W. Virginia.
I am not so sure that male friendship is all dead, neither it the concept of intergenerational male friendship, and, no, these are not tainted by the suspicion of sexual conduct. The yarn spun here has some merit, but I do not think that he severity suggested is warranted.
What I see of value is the warning not to take the current societal assumptions and fears and values and impose them on the past, when male - male friendship might just have had a different flavor.