Did You Know? Having
Female Friends as a Guy Comes With These 8 Massive Perks
By now, it’s clear that the
age-old debate about whether men and women can be friends has been settled. Not
only are guys perfectly capable of maintaining female friendships, but those
friendships come with some serious perks you probably don’t want to miss out
on.
If you don’t have many
female friends, fret not — you’re definitely not alone. Lots of men feel
discouraged from pursuing these friendships because they’re afraid of catching
feelings, or they subconsciously believe that getting too close to women
outside of a romantic context somehow threatens their masculinity.
“Culturally, many of us
are taught that men and women can’t be ‘just friends,’ which creates this
subtle pressure or assumption that attraction has to be part of the equation,”
says Jenny Maenpaa, LCSW, a licensed therapist in private practice. “On top of
that, some men may worry about how others will perceive the friendship — or
even struggle with emotional vulnerability, which female friendships often
invite in a very genuine way.”
