Cross‐sex friendship and the communicative management of sex‐role expectations

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Abstract
The present paper examines the scholarly literature pertaining to cross‐sex friendship in an attempt to conceptualize the communicative challenges facing such friends. It begins by comparing friendship and romantic love and then describing the ambivalent relationship between friendship and kinship in American culture. Next, the sex‐role expectations reflected in same‐sex male and female friendships are delineated. The related issue of women's versus men's perceptions of cross‐sex relationships is then discussed, followed by a review of contemporary conceptions and characteristics of cross‐sex friendships. The paper closes with a consideration of central concerns in the rhetorical management of cross‐sex friendships and a description of the advantages of such relationships.

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