A Women Just Friends Analysis

Can you be friends with someone you like? The dynamic of cross-sex friendships is an interesting area of study and one of which has little data. Moreover, research on this narrow subject is rather limited and comes from fairly old studies. The idea that men and women cannot be ‘just friends,’ is due to the idea that there must be some aspect of physical and or romantic involved. As Reeder discussed traditional societal norms and expectations of male-female relationships have played a role in how we view cross-sex friendships today. The literature on cross-sex friendships has explored the role of attraction and the impact it has on the dynamics of cross-sex relationships.

There are over six billion people on Earth today. Each of those people has countless relationships, which extend further into an immense network of relations among thousands of individuals. These relations can be romantic, professional, unconditional, mutual, or the strongest of all, friendship. Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism.

Amy Schumar’s “Trainwreck” is the reverse of on screen traditional gender roles complete with both romance and comedy. Stereotypically men are perceived as unemotionally involved while emotional involvement in almost always seen with women and relationships. Amy acts like a stereotypical dude that is depicted by today’s films while most of the men around her behave just the opposite. The media and popular culture continue to an important influence of expectations for romantic relationships through gender related stereotypes. Gender ideology creates different scripts and defines expectations for romantic relationships.

People need companionship to help them in times of hardship. Women tend to confide more in their same sex friends rather than men who, most of the time, find competitiveness in their friendships rather than telling them things that may show signs of weakness. People who have friends of the opposite sex at this time in their life, usually share some sort of romantic bond. These types of friendships normally come from school or work, but decline after the person is married. All friendships often decline after marriage because the people involved in the relationship find the closest bonds between themselves and spend most of their time together. During marriage people find friendships with their siblings to be closer than most.

In “Man to Man, Woman to Woman”, M. Sherman and A. Hass explain the problem of male –female communication through the research. They passed a questionnaire to 160 women and 110 men asking them that how often they talk about the topic listed on the questionnaire with friends of the same sex. From the responses of the questionnaire, they wrote this article. They said that the men reported talking about sports, current events, music, whereas women reported talking about relationship problems, health, family, reproductive concerns, weight, food, and clothing. They come up with the conclusions that both men and women don’t have to adopt other’s style, but they have to recognize and respect other’s style. Well, it seems like Sherman’s and Hass’s article can really tell us accurate information than that of Maynard’s article. “Man to Man, Woman to Woman” is based on the majority view and not one person’s view like “His Talk, Her Talk”. “Man to Man, Woman to Woman” is based on the survey, so the newlyweds would be able to understand better because now-a-days people like data from research, they like exact numbers. Moreover, the survey done by Hass and Sherman leads us to the conclusion that the difference in topics is not so damaging to intimate male-female relationships as are the differences in the style and function of conversation. J. Maynard’s data are merely based on her own life experiences. Some people may not believe in one person’s

In Dave Barry’s article “We’ve Got the Dirt on Guy Brains” and the Deborah Tannen’s “Sex, Lies, and Conversation” , the authors discussed the difference between men and women in terms of specific issues. However, their opinions of what reasons have led to certain differences diverged. This essay aimed at providing a detailed examination of both articles by comparing some of the points. First of all, I will discuss the shared point of both articles regarding the differences of men and women. Then the I will move on taking about the major different opinions the two authors held. Once these have been done, a brief examination of the the evidence in both articles.

Ethnographic approach to the research on friendship provided data which couldn’t be obtained using other approaches. Therefore, it extended our knowledge in this topic beyond the limits that constrain other methods of research. On the other hand, its shortcomings make its results questionable. Yet, some of these can be verified using different approaches or discover things that other approaches wouldn’t find that easily but can research them further. Concluding, the benefits of ethnographic approach overcome it shortcomings – especially when

The media tends to depict these intersectional friendships generally as gay men and straight women that are the best of friends who go shopping and clubbing together. Though this gender norm was common within the study, there are still other friendships that are regularly overlooked. The

For thousands of years, established gender roles have been a part of our society. Women are commonly known as sensitive, emotional, or passive. On the contrary, men are described as rational, competitive, independent, or aggressive. Believing women are more emotional than men is stereotyping. However, the stereotype is not entirely untrue. Development of gender roles is often conditioned more by environmental or cultural factors than by hereditary or biological factors. The development of gender roles between men and women involves the inference of peer community of each gender, the communication style of male and female and the intimacy or connection level of men and women.

Females also favour their same sex friend more than opposite sex friends in kinder garden.(Lundy, Field et al. 1998) People also enjoy more about the interaction with same sex friends in preadolescence.(Strough and Covatto 2002) The situation changes as they grow older, OSFs are found more intimate than in younger age.(Sharabany, Gershoni et al. 1981) Adolescents over 16 are more probable to have a OSF who is very close to them.(Kuttler, La Greca et al. 1999) Older adolescents are also expected to enjoy more when interacting with OSF.(Strough and Covatto 2002) Another interesting research by Hartup and Stevens found that having SSFs in childhood will forecast the romantic relationship later during adolescence.(Hartup and Stevens 1997) Above all, SSF plays a important role in early life span of individuals, but OSF gradually become more frequent as the person grows older. There is an implication that OSF is taking the role of SSF in the childhood period. SSF is also a preparation for the relationship growth of OSF. Regarding that OSF is a potential beneficial component of mating process and therefore reproductive success. It seems that SSF relates to evolutional success of individual through the function of OSF

The friendships form because they lack care from other people in their lives and need the friendship to compensate their loss of emotion. Although two people in the friendship have different genders and ages, they have similar life experiences and living background so they can understand each other’s feelings.

Women with strong masculine traits often receive similar criticism; women are expected to behave differently than men. One study found that in professional business environments women were more likely to disclose chronic illness and find social support, while men were expected to maintain composure and not stray from the task at hand (Munir, Price, Haslam, Leka, & Griffiths, 2006). To further highlight this difference between genders on the disclosure of personal information, women who score high in feminine traits are more likely to become emotionally invested and disclose personal information about themselves in conversations with acquaintances (Shaffer, Pegalis, & Cornell, 2001).

Throughout history, friendship is revered and has often been romanticised. It is a relatively new area of sociological study. Research has transferred the focus from personal interactions and the psychology of friendships to the social structures that influence and underpin them. This shift in the sociological view of friendship reflects a growing interest in mixed methodologies when carrying out research. As social structures bind a friendship in terms of manners agreed between its participants, so their rituals and routines become particular to those people in their understanding of the relationship. Understanding the effect of class and gender

Friends with benefits relationships are relatively new, but an increasingly popular phenomenon in our society. Defining this type of relationship can be complicated as there is no unique definition. For the most part, friends with benefits relationships adds a sexual component into a pre-existing friendship. However, every person has their own views about how they would define this kind of engagement. Despite the absence of a clear definition, friends with benefits is a controversial issue that often sparks strong emotions. There are so many factors that can dictate how these relationships start and end. The label “friends with benefits” is a commonly used label by the younger generation and it has become popular among older folks nowadays. So, shouldn’t any friendship have its own benefits? However, the phrase is used in a different context, one more convenient and less conventional. Again, it’s when either two friends or acquaintances, and in some cases past lovers, agree to variations of an open relationship. Both people are not necessarily in a committed relationship but they may practice things a relationships consists of like having casual sex and going on dates. With this, it is less likely for emotional bonds to form that a more romantic and consistent relationship would induce. Adolescents who especially engage in this type of relationship find this to be a good opportunity for sexual experimentation. Friends with benefits allows those who are unsure of commitment

One of the main topics this book focuses on is the social aspect of relationships, regarding parent to child, parent to parent, and child to peer. In the psychology 135 class there has been discussion in regards to importance and significance of having healthy or open communication in relationships. An important concept that has been discussed when it comes to communication in gender differences is report vs. rapport. According to the course text, Marriages, Families, & Relationships: Making Choices in a Diverse Society by Mary Ann Lamanna and Agnes Riedmann, Report talk is what men typically engage in which is mainly aimed at conveying information, Rapport is what women usually engage in by speaking to gain or reinforce intimacy or connection with others (Lamanna 328). In other words report is used in order to gain a solution while rapport is used to gain or foster intimacy. When connecting this information to