Male Friendships : Female Friendships

Traditionally, young men and women preferred friends of their own sex and engaged in sex-specific activities with them. Male friendships centered on shared activities such as sports, cars, and contests (sometimes fighting with words, not weapons). Women’s friendships were more intimate and emotional, involving self-disclosing talk about health, romances, and relatives (p.437)

Friendships change over time. Some people stay your friends forever others are only temporary. This essay shows how my friendships have changed between Elementary school and Middle school, between middle and high school, and how some have stayed the same over the course of my education.

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.

The first difference is how they listen to people talking. Women love to make “listener noises such as ‘mhm,’ ‘uhuh,’ and ‘yeah.’” They do this to show “I’m with you” (Tannen332). On the other hand, men listen in silence. When men are silent it usually is because they are trying to interpret the information. Another reason for a men’s silence is when they go into their “cave” because they are upset or stressed. Women misinterpret a man’s silence and they imagine horrible things such as “he hates me, he doesn’t love me, he is leaving me forever.” A women’s silence means what she’s about to say is going to hurt them or she doesn’t want to talk to them. If they can realize they have different ways of communicating then there wouldn’t be many worries or

Friendship is often underrated, considering the tremendous impact it has on our well being. Early-childhood friendship is something that is frequently overlooked as a positive developmental influence. Preschool friendships are helpful in developing social and emotional skills, increasing a sense of belonging and decreasing stress. People who feel lonely or socially isolated tend to be more depressed and have more health issues. Both boys and girls form strong attachments to others need social and emotional support. It is human nature to attach to certain people and to want closeness and support from others, regardless of gender. There is no one size fits all formula for friendship; people thrive socially in different ways. There are,

A true friendship is something that everyone wants to have but not everyone can have it.

Often times women’s studies are overshadowed by topics pertaining to other matters. Because of this, Steve Duck of University of Iowa calls women’s studies “understudied relationships”. In his book, Under-Studied Relationships: Off the Beaten Track, Steve delves into the complicated world that is friendship between women. He reveals that even the best of friendships, more often than not, will dissolve due to geographical distance, especially during the transition from high school to college. However, Duck claims that this occurrence is more detrimental to male friendships than female friendships. According to Duck, “…men’s inability to maintain distal friends may be due to a lack of awareness about and skills to utilize effective strategies that maintain a [friendship]” (184). This argument implies that men simply do not put as much emotional value into friendships as women do. While distance may seem challenging for women to overcome, they put more effort into preserving their friendship. Duck further instills this concept by explaining that “women’s same-sex friendships tend to be based more on intimate and emotional discussions than men’s…” (186). Men, Duck argues, lack the depth in their friendships that women possess and for this reason have difficulty sustaining a friendship that is met with the strain of distance.

True friends need the ability to keep themselves interested and attentive to each other while still giving them space. This is for the prevention of the possibility of someone getting obnoxious. Intimate friends need to discipline themselves to the point that they can satisfy themselves with little information, or maybe not having a full understanding of something. They should not probe. Instead, they should wait until the other person is ready to discuss the topic

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.

“You are so annoying why can’t you just be girly!” This is one thing you hear when you are friends with both girls and guys. Although both are amazing to have, both have their perks and downsides.They can be exactly alike in one way and completely different in another. Girls and guys find different things entertaining. Guys are stronger and more honest to your face while girls tend to lie quite a bit. Both girls and guys seem to be great people to have in your life with many things they can both offer you.

     Biology too plays a major role in the differences between male and female. Genetically, there are differing chromosomes. XY for male and XX for female. These chromosome differences account for the physical differences that men and women have. In dealing with body composition, males are more likely to be taller and more muscular. Males also have testosterone, the male sex hormone. It is said that males with high levels are more confrontational and smile less. Women that have low levels of estrogen, the female sex hormone, are said to be more disagreeable and confrontational. Maybe because men have such a huge advantage over women by being physically larger, they are supposed to be more aggressive and women having less physical strength are supposed to be the nurturers.

The five factors that predict interpersonal relationships are: proximity, familiarity, similarity, physical appearance, and reciprocity. Proximity refers to the geographical location of persons. People are more likely to initiate, engage, or maintain relationships if someone’s geographical location is near or convenient to the person they are to pursue. Relationships, whether romantic or platonic, are not as likely to be initiated if the proximity does not allow individuals to cross paths or maintain a certain level of communication. As well, familiarity plays an important role in the fostering of relationships. People are said to have an increased attraction and fondness for individuals that they see more often than those they do not. In lay terms, similarity can be summed up by saying that people enjoy the presence of those like (or similar) to them. Individuals are more often drawn to and feel less intimidated by others that share their culture and belief systems; thus, are more likely to form relationships with them. Next, is physical attractiveness; which can be defined in two different ways. First off, people tend to believe that beautiful things equal good things and are more likely to seek out relationships with individuals they find beautiful. However, people are also likely to form relationships with people they believe to be on

Friendship is an integral part of the life of any human being. Most people feel the need to have a person who they can communicate with and talk about their challenges at any given time. Friendship is essential in

Men are generally identified with a strong characteristics and do not do things like crying and cooking otherwise they will be considered as feminine. Likewise, there are some characteristics that women do not have if they do not want to be considered as masculine such as strong or tough. To some extent either feminine traits in men or masculine traits in women is considered as something

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