Cross Gender Friendship Essay

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As Harry puts it in When Harry Met Sally, men and women can never be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.” So, can men and women be just friends? Some people and researchers say yes, as long as they do not let any feelings get in the way, which that is never guaranteed. Others say no, in the terms that men and women cannot hold back their physical or sexual feelings. Then there are the people and researchers who say it depends on the person that is being questioned. Although, cross-gender friendship research is still relatively new, I believe that men and women cannot be just friends because of sexual tension, jealousy, and unreciprocated feeling, although cross-gender friendships can be similar to same-gender friendships because …show more content…

This is because childhood peer interactions are distinguished by gender segregation that is universal and peaks in middle school (McDougall & Hymel, 2007). Girls and boys do not know how bond or build a relationship with the opposite sex due to constantly being told that girls should play with girls and boys should play with boys. That is not true for every child, and there are children that engage in cross-gender friendships but they disappear with increasing age and do not reappear until early adolescents (McDougall & Hymel, 2007). Children will interact with the opposite sex if they are in the same school with them or if they live in the same neighborhood, but the first approach to forming a bond with the opposite sex in late adolescents is the anticipation of forming a romantic relationship. However, forming cross-gender interactions are functionally important to establish heterosexual romantic relationships (McDougall & Hymel, 2007). Therefor is an assumption that when we see close male and female interaction, it is questioned whether if they are romantically involved or not. We were pushed into same-sex friendships growing up, but eventually we were free to form our own friendships with whoever and because of that, we learn that cross-gender friendships can be similar to same-gender friendships and be …show more content…

The benefits of a cross-gender friendship are: companionship, inside information of the opposite sex, open conversation, protection, and social support. These qualities in the opposite gender for a cross-gender friendship make the friendship meaningful and the potential for a quality friendship. One of the main reason that men and women form cross-gender friendships is for companionship, much like same-gender friendships are formed (Gillespie, Lever, Frederick, & Royce, 2015). The reason why people form friendships is because they want to have conversations and someone to hang out with. If there are no feelings present from either party in a cross-gender friendship, one can provide the other with “inside” information about the opposite sex and how to attract them (Bleske & Buss, 2000). Another benefit, that men ranked as their top benefit was talking openly to the opposite sex (Hart, Adams, & Tullett, 2016). April Bleske and David Buss conducted a study measuring the benefits of cross-gender friendships, and in the protection category, women evaluated that the potential for receiving protection from their male friend was more beneficial than men did. Heterosexual, cross-gender friendships change people’s lives and have an effect on views of the self and other, and they provide social support like same-gender

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