Cross Sex Friendships: The Challenges Of Cross-Sex Friendships

1005 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Reflection of Communication styles

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

Show More
Related

  • Gendered Close Relationships In The Film Crooklyn (1994)

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chapter 9 Gendered Close Relationships is about stereotypes for men and women ideas on how to behave in relationships. The expectations for male and female in a relationships have been set by their gender roles. The meaning of personal relationships is where partners depend on each other for various things from affection to material assistance. Partners are expected affection, companionship and energy. The two main models of personal relationships are male deficit model and alternate paths model. Male deficit model suggests male lack skills in developing relationships with others. In alternate paths model, men and women just have different ways to sustain a relationship. It’s not that men lack skills but men show it in a different way.

    Read More

  • Roxanne Gay's How To Be Friends With Another Woman

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    Female friendships are thought of as complicated, confusing and stereotyped as maleficent. Roxanne Gay stated in her book Bad feminist that, “all female friendships must be bitchy, toxic, or competitive.” (47) Her point made in the chapter titled; ‘How to Be Friends with Another Woman’ clarifies and lays out the rules and procedures women must undergo and follow to satisfy society’s basic layout of women’s relationships. Her points stated specify the attitudes, behavior, and expectations of one another to balance and create a stable relationship.

    Read More

  • Sex Lies And Conversation Summary

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Tannen, differences in childhood can impact individual’s communication with each other in relationships. At a young age, children tend to play with other children who are the same gender as them. Both groups of genders have different ways of building a friendship. Tannen says that “Little girls create and maintain friendships by exchanging secrets” (276). It is important for girls to share secrets to get closer to one another and to have a mutual understanding unlike boys whose bonds are “based

    Read More

  • The Ugly Truth: An Examination of Stereotypes in Media

    1938 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wood, J. T. (2011). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture. (9th ed ed., pp. 1-227). Boston,MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

    Read More

  • Millennial Cultural Barriers

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are two type of friendship: homophilic, friends because of same identity, or heterophilic, friends because of interest or proximity (Maxwell, 2002, p 268). Because of an influx of immigrants, Millennials are surrounded by immigrants. Along with Millennials being more optimist and open minded, the presence of a different culture sparks interest, helping form a heterophilic friendship. Because of immigration and Millennials attitudes, friendship between two different culture is plausible and doable, promoting the development of tolerant and acceptance in

    Read More

  • Diverse Roles of Women in the Renaissance Era

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    Miller, Rowland S. Intimate Relationships. 6th Ed. New York; The McGraw- Hill Companies, 2012. Print.

    Read More

  • Distinguishing Between Sex and Gender Performativity

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    As part of human survival instinct, we tend to judge and label other individuals based on their physical appearance and gestures. But to understand one’s identity and interior self, we need to look beyond these physical factors. One of the first things that we assume upon meeting someone for the first time is usually whether they are male or female. However, what we sometimes do not take into consideration is that sex and gender are not the same. Sex is determined by an individual’s biological characteristics. Gender, on the other hand, is acquired and constructed. Sex and gender cannot be separated because both the biological and social factors contribute to making a person who they are. But sex and gender can be distinguished

    Read More

  • George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, The Transformation

    1947 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: communication, gender & and culture (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Gender Socialization

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Migliaccio (2009) addresses that it is commonly believed men are less trusting and honest in a friendship, but the relationships usually examined are male and female. In male friends, the other feels that it is not just the fact they are men that need to be taken into account, but the impact of gender roles that also play a role. In the study, Migliaccio (2009) examines friendships between men in occupations typical of their gender such as military and nontraditional such as a hairdresser. Being masculine is described as “being stoic, both physically and emotionally” (Migliaccio, 2009, p.228) which impacts friendships. In male friendships, it is also explored that men avoid being perceived as feminine. Another factor, Migliaccio (2009) considers is either a man works with more females rather than males. “In short, women and men experience and define intimate friendships in different ways, and neither should be judged by the standard of the other” (Migliaccio, 2009, p.229). It is determined that gender is not as much of a factor as gender roles are in male friendships. This article will provide evidence for the impact of the male gender versus gender roles within the theme of masculinity. It examines many factors that go beyond gender as well as the lens these relationships are viewed through

    Read More

  • Learning Gender In a Diverse Society

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...

    Read More

  • Muted Group Theory

    2841 Words  | 6 Pages

    Wood, J.T. (1999). Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture, Third Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

    Read More

  • How Sexuality is Socially Constructed

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...

    Read More

  • Friends with Benefits Relationships

    1785 Words  | 4 Pages

    Friends with benefits relationships consist of friends who are physically involved and participate in the occasional engagement of sexual activity, but otherwise have a basic friendship in which they are not romantically involved (Mongeau, Ramirez, & Vorell, 2003). This separation differentiates friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) from other relationship types by creating a relational hybrid due to no future expectations of transitioning into a romantic relationship. Even though these relationships carry defining features of a romantic relationship, such as intimacy and sexual passion, FWB partners do not consider their involvements to be romantic relationships, but rather best regarded to as friends involved in casual sex. With many potential implications for understanding FWBRs dynamics more broadly, our understandings of these involvements are in an early stage due to a recent attraction to friends with benefits relationships.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Close Friendship In Child Development

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Besides looking at the influence that close friendship has on the cognitive development in childhood, another factor that was focused upon is the emotion component. Past research has shown that having friends help to buffer negative repercussion from peer rejections as it provides a positive emotional function (Estell, et al., 2009). The importance of close friendship in childhood is illustrated by a finding of 18 years of longitudinal study, which reported people who had no close friends during childhood are prone to have psychological predicament where they demonstrate symptoms of internalizing or externalizing (Sakyi, Surkan, Fombonne, Chollet & Melchior, 2015). In close friendship, there are differences between gender. This can be seen in a research that indicated that among close friendship between girls and boys, girls have the tendency to be more affectionate in sharing their personal details as compared to boys who are more prone engaging in physical activities (Beazidou & Botsoglou, 2016). This is supported by the information that girls are more inclined to show affinity while boys are more prone to show power (Rabaglietti, Vacirca, Zucchetti & Ciairano,

    Read More

  • The Genderlect Style Theory

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wood, J. T. (2011). Gendered Verbal Communication. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture (10th ed., pp. 118-137). Boston, MA: Cengage.

    Read More

More about Cross Sex Friendships: The Challenges Of Cross-Sex Friendships

Open Document