Friendship and Gender, Essay Example

From Developmental Changes in Gender Composition of Friendship Networks in Adolescent Girls and Boys by Francois Poulin and Sara Pedersen, this essay will focus on the content that follows this statement: “Reciprocity of friendship nominations was not taken into account even though reciprocity is considered a central component of friendship” (Newcomb & Bagwell, 1995). This statement follows directly under the Limitations, Strengths, and Future Studies subsection. Let’s see how both genders have gained favorable reception amongst each other as separate entities, yet we have also learned to better mesh together, as two unified parts of a whole that has never been achieved throughout history.

First of all, let’s define that term, Reciprocity. From the Random House Dictionary (2012), reciprocity means “reciprocation; mutual exchange.” Concerning the two different genders within humanity, that is what we strive to achieve, equality or reciprocation. Friendship stands above all, and especially in this day-and-age — the ‘Digital Age’. This “Information Age” (with the “Information Superhighway,” that shady innovation from Al Gore, or yet another term for this era) has indeed fully blossomed; we have been, and still are intensively, better situating ourselves to better develop the socialism within the majority of communities. Gender differences are working together (coexisting) like never before thought possible.

Most of all, however, we are situating ourselves for a time when people willingly choose to become more a part of society once again rather than isolationists due to the lack of funds we all think we posses alone, as individuals. By drawing away from that social drive embedded within us, as a species, purely to prove our own selfish merit, we can finally come to terms with the fact that we need socialization. This isolated mental state we all feel due to the individual lack of funds we all posses, which has the greater majority of us convinced that we posses alone, individually, will finally though slowly now begin to appear insensible and unproductive. Through this digital age we will learn that we have more to gain working as a unit collectively, from each other, than as sole proprietors.

On the other hand, one statement that does not hold much validity is this very final line: “The changes were more pronounced for girls, especially those who are antisocial and early maturing, and the characteristics of their other-sex friends suggest that these relationships might place some of the girls on a problematic developmental trajectory.”

Females cannot be held accountable or even be singled-out as “problematic” for the strongest drive in all humans (our sexuality). In a heterosexual sense, that awkward feeling that takes place within all mixed-gender relationships simply occurs. However, getting back to the digital age, this gender differentiation will not hold as much of an obstacle, anomaly, or even bias, especially since humans are generally working individually rather than with others, and the oddity or mystique of the other gender will strengthen.

Conclusion: The move from a mechanized and industrialized culture to a digital society has fundamentally modified what we consider these key-phrases to mean: occupation, employment, profession, career, assignment, and vocation. All the same, friends and variations of friendships have adjusted and are adjusting along the same lines. This ‘Digital Age’ that we have entered into focuses on and relies upon the individual more than a collective group of people, therefore we value our time with others even more now our meaning to the word socialization has shifted.

What’s nice, of course, is that advancement and promotional encouragement is much more easily attainable, and will continue to increase as the world’s economy strengthens from quite a low that we all currently have reached; this loss of revenue we are now recovering from and facing will be compensated soon enough. Due to this, we rely on personal friends for more of a therapeutic release, now, than for professional, pragmatic, or emotional reliance as we have in the years past.