Exercise 6

Five fun activities I’ve always wanted to do with friends, but have not done, include going to see a concert, taking a self-defense class, having a favorite movie marathon, going on a road trip, and camping. One of the activities I actually did with two of my close friends was having a movie marathon. Both of my friends came to my house, and we each brought our two favorite movies. The most fun part of the activity was being able to relax and watch great movies with two of my closest friends. I enjoyed the downtime spent with them, and they also said they had fun spending this time together. The greatest barrier that prevented us from doing this prior was finding a time that we could all hang out one day to watch roughly 12 hours of movies. Our schedules have become increasingly busy, and finding a time that we could all meet was fairly difficult. Although we couldn’t necessarily remove this barrier, we planned the day to hang out a week in advance so we would all be free. Taking time out of our busy lives to hang out and watch movies proved to be a nice way for all of us to catch up and spend more time together. Because the day proved to be enjoyable, my friends and I will plan to do this and other fun activities more often.

The first person I interviewed about male-female friendships was my mother. When I asked her if males and females could be friends, she said yes, particularly when both the male and female friends have their own love interests. She said this takes the pressure off of the friends to be in a relationship and/or fall in love. She added that if the friends do not have significant others, there is a higher probable cause that they will keep their friendship and their friendship will remain strong. When I interviewed my brother about this topic, he said that males and females could be friends, as long as they treat each other as same-gender friends. One of my brother’s best friends is a girl, and he said that he treats her “like one of the guys.” By doing so, they’re relationship stays on the friendship level. Also, he says that because their relationship is so close, and that she is like a sister to him, it would be strange to become boyfriend-girlfriend with her. He mentions that this concept can apply to many male-female friendships, and that not all are bound to date each other. When I interviewed one of my female friends, she said that if the male and female are very close friends, the threat of becoming boyfriend-girlfriend is greater. She said that if the two are very close, the more time they spend together the more they will be attracted to each other. She also mentions that if they are such great friends, they must have similar interests and personality types, which also increases their chances of becoming attracted to each other and dating. When I asked another female friend, she said that many male and female friends can maintain a friendship without becoming boyfriend-girlfriend, especially if there is no physical attraction involved and the friendship is well established. This means that the boy and girl know that they will only remain friends, and do not plan on taking their relationship any further. Lastly, after interviewing one of my male friends, he said that it is possible for male and female friends to develop feelings for each other, especially if they spend a lot of time together. However, it is possible to maintain a platonic relationship if they only view each other as friends, and only treat each other as friends.