Why do women . . . ?

Why do women refer to their lady friends as "my girlfriend" while us guys would never refer to our friends as "our boyfriends"? My wife uses that term all the time when referring to her women friends. I hear women use that term all the time.

I can't imagine me referring to Andy Welch or IronMan as "my boyfriends", although if I were in a room with a bunch of guys having fun and and F-Mac or Firehawk tried to give me a bad time, I might call both of them "my little toy poodles" to shut them up!

[Motivated]

Originally Posted by pierini

Why do women refer to their lady friends as "my girlfriend" while us guys would never refer to our friends as "our boyfriends"? My wife uses that term all the time when referring to her women friends. I hear women use that term all the time.

I can't imagine me referring to Andy Welch or IronMan as "my boyfriends", although if I were in a room with a bunch of guys having fun and and F-Mac or Firehawk tried to give me a bad time, I might call both of them "my little toy poodles" to shut them up!

We actually talked about this in socialogy.

It stems from many things.

Men from western socities tend to think we are in an inherent competition with eachother and that any emotional release is a sign of weakness (affection, crying, sadness or even sometimes hapiness)...so infront of men, we are usually indifferent.

Women are more communal and are not as competitive as men.

Most men think gay as in 'guy with guy' is gross but find 'woman on woman' okay - so thats another reason why not many men question women calling their friends girlfriends.

Many women also find 'guy with guy' not asthetically pleasing, so calling a friend boyfriend wouldnt be permissable on either accounts.

Plus if we called friends boyfriends, we'd get called a homo -- just like those who curl in the squat rack and do flies all day.

Wow, I just wrote a lot which could be deemed bull. We did cover it in SYG2000 though, that was a year ago though. >_<

[TomG]

Men from western societies tend to think we are in an inherent competition with each other

And Genghis Kahn didn't?

[Motivated]

Originally Posted by TomG

And Genghis Kahn didn't?

Easteners are similar in that respect, but they tend to be more collectivist - viewing family name higher than individualism.

We care what people think of us, OURSELVES, rather than our family and its legacy.

Easterners, history shows, are GENERALLY more collectivist.

[.V.]

Originally Posted by pierini

I can't imagine me referring to Andy Welch or IronMan as "my boyfriends",

Please don't.

In the circles I live in, the women don't speak that way either. Probably because it's a primarily male dominated world so one time early in their career they may refer to a girlfriend once and really get ragged on about it pretty hard with some very off color teasing. Even inside the medical facilities even though most of the nurses are women, they adopt our ways, our mannerisms, and our speech...so they don't talk that way anymore either.

[TomG]

My experience and knowledge has been western societies and Japan. I don't see any difference in "inherent competition with each other and that any emotional release is a sign of weakness (affection, crying, sadness or even sometimes happiness)..." in present Japan nor in their history. From looking outside in, I don't see any difference in any other of the eastern countries, either. Macho is macho the world over.

[sweetdream]

I've learned NOT to refer to my friends as my "girlfriends" because it just makes the guys who are listening totally switch their brains onto something lesbian related and it bugs the hell outta me so I stopped..I use names...my friend Ashley...Jessica said...ect. ect..

[.V.]

Originally Posted by sweetdream

it just makes the guys who are listening totally switch their brains onto something lesbian related...

We can't help it. Every man, no matter his age, is partly 13 year old boy and partly either beavis or butthead... Then comes along the "huh, huh, huh, lybians are cool" thing.

Some of us are just better at hiding it than others.

[sweetdream]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

We can't help it. Every man, no matter his age, is partly 13 year old boy and partly either beavis or butthead... Then comes along the "huh, huh, huh, lybians are cool" thing.

Some of us are just better at hiding it than others.

I totally believe every part of that! lmao

[Motivated]

Originally Posted by sweetdream

I totally believe every part of that! lmao

True.

So maybe it is a my generation thing where women call their women friends their girlfriends.

[Motivated]

Originally Posted by pierini

So maybe it is a my generation thing where women call their women friends their girlfriends.

My mother does it -- as do her friends...and I've heard a few younger girls do it.

I dont know... :confused:

[TomG]

My high school kids do. You hear it a lot on afternoon TV . . . uh, I heard.

Language is not math. There doesn't have to be a logical reciprocity between words.

Girlfriend has two meanings: a girl friend of a girl, a girl in a relatively exclusive romantic relationship with another.

Boyfriend has one meaning: a boy in a relatively exclusive romantic relationship with another.

Words are the tools of emotion and relationships, not mathmatical formulas. Otherwise, "fast" spelled backwards would mean slow, or some ridiculous rule like that

Wow, sure killed this mood, huh?

[Firehawk]

I do refer to F-mac as my boyfriend sometimes because he's my bitch, and for no other reason.

[.V.]

F-mac, you loading plates for him behind my back again? You were supposed to by my exclusive gymbitch. Keep it up and it's over.