Friday, April 5, 2013

Just Friends

Here's an interesting thought.  Some students at Utah State University ran an informal poll and discussion about whether or not men and women could be "just friends" or not.  It should be noted that the population they are drawing from is exclusively traditional college students, so the results will not necessarily apply to other demographics.  Take a look.


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My first reaction is that I was just friends with a ton of girls when I was in college.  But of course, I wasn't attracted to girls, so my experience might not be relevant to their point.  My next reaction is to ask if it applied to me and boys.  I had some great, very close friends in college that were boys.  But upon thinking about it, the closer friends we were, the less my attractions got in the way.  Even in high school and Jr. high, the better I knew guys, the weaker my attractions.

So I see where they were coming from.  While I think it is totally possible to be just friends with those to whom you are attracted, I suspect that attraction would need to die down.  As many people have pointed out, it is important for married men to have other male companionship.  Some claim that it fulfills an emotional need.  I think it helps keep a "just friends" relationship going strong, so that the marital relationship with a spouse can be free to grow in other ways.

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