The New York Times Style section, known for its unique ability to discover trends many years after everyone else, has published a new op/ed documenting the "rise of the 'bromosexual' friendship."

In this instance, the Times defines "bromosexual" as "a brotherly friendship between a gay man and a straight man," a concept that has existed literally since the beginning of time.

Though Jim Farber admits this in his piece, he points to a recent cultural trend of the "bromosexual" friendship appearing more often in pop culture and therefore setting an example for modern-day men to try one out for themselves.

Take, for example, Nick Jonas' Scream Queens character Boone and his relationship with Chad, a straight buddy he both chills and cuddles with.

"That kind of easy relationship would not be credible to a broad audience 10 years ago," said Jarlath Gregory, gay author of The Organised Criminal, a novel that includes one such relationship.

"One of the things my publisher liked about my book was that this friendship was something we haven’t seen much before."

There's a generational divide, however, when it comes to embracing these so-called "bromosexual" friendships.

"Our traditional way of thinking of relationships with gay and straight men is that they are hostile, even bullying," said 57-year-old author Michael LaSala. "For that reason, gay men have traditionally not felt comfortable in these relationships."

Several examples of real-life bromosexual relationships later, Farber concludes they all pretty much boil down to one thing: sex, whether it's about gay men enjoying the ability of talking openly with straight men about sex, or straight men using gay men to alleviate the anxiety they feel with the "complex power imbalances between the genders."

That may not necessarily be true, but either way, it's worth a read.

You can check out the whole piece at NYTimes.com.