Cross Sex Friendships: The Challenges Of Cross-Sex Friendships

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Cross-sex friendships are becoming increasingly more popular than ever before. According to Schoonover and McEwan, men and women have complementing communication styles and this is what makes cross-sex friendships so appealing as it grows to be more accepted (Schoonover & McEwan, 2014). These complementing styles can be rewarding when maintained properly but, like with same-sex friendships, come with their own challenges. In this criticism I will be analyzing who benefits more from cross-sex friendships, which challenge for maintaining cross-sex friendships is most impactful, and what cultural or social changes can be made to make them more acceptable while easy to maintain.
Analysis
Men and women seek out cross-sex friendships to satisfy a need that cannot necessarily be filled in their same-sex friendships. According to Lenton and Webber, of “Cross-sex Friendships”, friendships are meant to serve three valuable functions: to provide us with help and support, to provide our cognitive needs for stimulation of shared experiences/activities/ideas/gossip and lastly, to meet our social-emotional needs by giving love and esteem (Lenton & Webber, 2006). This proves that there are so many reasons why the forming of friendships is so instinctual to us as humans. The formation of cross-sex friendships adds a …show more content…

Explicitly specifying the type of relationship each individual wishes to peruse is a simple way to deter sexual tension from arising. Another way to stop sexual tension from growing is to actively mention and include a significant other into cross-sex friendships, this clearly makes the distinction between an individual’s romantic relationships and an innocent friendship. The most important thing in combating sexual tension in cross-sex friendships is clearly defining the relationship so that all individuals involved know where their friendship

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