Introduction
A controversy exists in terms of gender stereotyping when it comes to friendship. Women relationships are conceived to be more phony and unreliable compared to men. Women are viewed differently.
For instance, they are conceived as being always in competition with one another and disloyal to those whom they view as friends.
On the other hand, women friendship is viewed to be more personal, intimate and sincere than those of male. Despite all these contradictions, the existing friendship between women and men has been proved to be extremely distinct.
The ultimate goal of any friendship is to attain common goals whether male or female friendship. The distinction between male and female friendship is that these types of friendships are superficial in nature and characterized by style and appearance (Anonymous, 2011).
Given the various response to the various posts, the below discussed posts were the most fascinating.
The post by Ryan Stirling: Where she agrees that when women get married and become mothers and wives, they are expected by the society to give their family first priority and their female friendship comes last.
On the contrary, this might be true or not true depending on an individual perspective. In our current society, this has become a common theme and continues to exist. Traditionally, men are known to be breadwinners while women are supposed to take care of the meals, laundry and children.
Social media has greatly played a role in connecting women. With the availability of internet everywhere, from their homes women can still chat with their friends online either through face book, twitter, MySpace among other social networks.
Even though being viewed as “false friendship” as this women do not have time to hook up or see each other, at least they are updated about the well being of one another. Despite having internet connection, these women continue being lonely than ever.
As a result, they can make an individual to become physically and mentally ill (Marche, 2012). The most interesting about this article is its ending which states that” the core of a friendship has to have more in-person interactions and experience.”
This is where an individual has to discuss personal issues and offer comfort to one another. But with online chatting, these cannot have a great impact unlike when you talk face to face. In summary, despite women being married, they still have contact with their friends.
The second post that attracted my attention is that of James Taylor. Eng claims that female friendships are highly oversimplified. This statement is biased to some extent.
However, in the society, we have people with distinct characters. For instance, we have women who exhibit true friendship whilst others dislike their fellow women because of various reasons.
For instance, some back-bite their friends and others are too judgmental. As a matter of fact, this is true because without these kinds of people the society cannot be complete. This is the main reason why most people enroll for Gal pal courses to understand the diverse nature of women.
On the other hand, the statement about women friendship not being formalized is not true. This is because; some girls go to the extent of giving their friends a couple of items to bond their relationship.
For instance, some formalize their friendship via use of rings, friendship necklaces among others. Furthermore, the article also brings out the significance of social networking.
Social networking forms the base where individuals enhance their friendship and form new relationship on a completely new level.
Finally, the post on social networks by Morgan Stahl in response to the writing of Morgan Stahl signifies the importance of social networking.
It is of great significance if individuals were concerned on how people interact and the various means used for communication. In the current society, people use social media for interaction than ever before.
Given the complexity of the existing cultures, it is extremely hard to meet with friends physically as a result of work and personal priorities.
Since friends cannot have all the time in the world to meet physically, then social network is the perfect place to connect them and keep their friendship intact.
From this post, it is evident that social networks are essential in building friendship. Without these networks then most of our friendship would have faded long time ago.
Social networks keep our friendship stronger as one is able to change ideas, discuss things with an individual far away (Rotella, 2000).
In conclusion, women and men view friendship differently (Nestor, 2008). To men, friendship is associating with someone whom they can hang out with.
For instance, watch a sports event, enjoy beverages or play game together. However, for women friendship means completely different thing. To women friendship is having an individual whom they share interest that is similar.
With similar interests at heart, they can have a chance to share ideas and find solutions to things that are of great concern to their lives.
Women love having someone whom they can hang around with, whom they can think together and have fun. Social media helps women to share ideas and expand their thinking (Kupferer, 2011).
References
Anonymous. (2011). Male friendship vs. female friendship. Web.
Kupferer, J. (2012). Women Friendship. Web.
Marche. S.(2012). Is Face book making us lonely? Web.
Nestor, P. (2008). Female Friendships in mid-Victorian England: New Patterns and Possibilities. Literature & History, 17(1), 36-47.
Rotella, M., Abbott, C & Gold, S. F. (2000). Connecting: The enduring power of female friendship. Publishers Weekly, 247 (28), 53-53.