Men talk, but rarely about anything personal. Recent research on friendship ... has shown that male relationships are based on sha...red activities: men tend to do things together rather than simply be together.... Female friendships, particularly close friendships, are usually based on self-disclosure, or on talking about intimate aspects of their lives.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To insult a friend implies that you respect his masculinity enough to know he can take it without acting like a crybaby. The swapp...ing of insults, like the fighting between brothers, becomes the seal of the male bonding.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A friend and I flew south with our children. During the week we spent together I took off my shoes, let down my hair, took apart m...y psyche, cleaned the pieces, and put them together again in much improved condition. I feel like a car that's just had a tune-up. Only another woman could have acted as the mechanic.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
What I expect from my male friends is that they are polite and clean. What I expect from my female friends is unconditional love, ...the ability to finish my sentences for me when I am sobbing, a complete and total willingness to pour their hearts out to me, and the ability to tell me why the meat thermometer isn't supposed to touch the bone.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Friends broaden our horizons. They serve as new models with whom we can identify. They allow us to be ourselves--and accept us tha...t way. They enhance our self-esteem because they think we're okay, because we matter to them. And because they matter to us--for various reasons, at various levels of intensity--they enrich the quality of our emotional life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, th...e wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »