The issues raised in the advice forum are a direct
reflection of the challenges to friendship presented in the chapter. A lot of
the forum spoke of the pressures on friendships with an emphasis on internal
pressures. I read a lot about the pressure of friends having diverse
communication styles as well as sexual attraction. “Friendships may also be
strained by the miscommunication that arise from diverse cultural background”
(Wood 264). I read a posting that described a friendship of two friends that
are from different cultures. One of them is American and the other is
Colombian. The American woman describes her type of communication to be rather
sarcastic and a lot of the time, the Colombian man doesn't pick up on it
because her culture seldom uses sarcasm as a form of joking. This has caused a
pressure throughout their friendship. There is also sexual attraction, “even if
there is no sexual activity, sexual undertones may ripple beneath the surface
of friendships” (Wood 265). This can stem between any type of friendship
including one with a female and male present. Many friendships have to go
through this initial awkward phase of sexual tension before they can focus on
building a long lasting meaningful friendship. In all these issues can be solved
through healthy forms of communication and support for one another.
I absolutely loved the this blog, it describes me and my best friend's relationship. I believe every friendship has sexual tension, almost in an awkward way because I am more expressive with that and he is kind of uncomfortable with that but I understand that we do have two totally different backgrounds. Also, he is more aggressive with his love while I am more expressive but when you have opposite attractions like that it just makes the friendship stronger.
ReplyDeleteHi There,
ReplyDeleteI think that is what the best part of friends is that they eventually catch onto the way the other person is. I think most friends come from different worlds and different views. Yet, they often seem to compliment each other on their differences, finding ways to relate and understand the other person, despite fundamental differences. Most of the time, friends thrive on the differences between each other rather than the similarities. I agree that when it comes to the different genders, it may be more complicated than normal. There is always sexual undertones that involved, regardless of the level of attractions. I think that there is a humorous answer in the movie “when harry met sally”.