Link List – February 2013 Synchroblog – Cross-Gender Friendships

Here is the Link List for the February Synchroblog: Cross Gender Friendships.

Chris Jefferies – Best of both

Jeremy Myers – Are Cross-Gender Friendships Possible

Lynne Tait – Little Boxes

Dan Brennan – Cross-Gender Friendship: Jesus and the Post-Romantic Age

Glenn Hager – Sluts and Horndogs

Jennifer Ellen – A Different Kind of Valentine

Alise Wright – What I get from my cross-gender friend

Liz Dyer – Cross-Gender Friendships and the Church

Paul Sims – Navigating the murky water of cross-gender friendships

Jonalyn Fincher – Why I Don’t Give out Sex like Gold Star Stickers

Amy Martin – Friendship: The most powerful force against patriarchy, sexism, and other misunderstands about people who happen to not be us, in this case, between men & women

Maria Kettleson Anderson – Myth and Reality: Cross-Gender Friendships

Bram Cools – Nothing More Natural Than Cross-Gender Friendships?

Hugo Schwyzer – Feelings Aren’t Facts: Living Out Friendship Between Men and Women

Marta Layton – True Friendship: Two Bodies, One Soul

Kathy Escobar – The Road To Equality Is Paved With Friendship

Karl Wheeler – Friends at First Sight

Doreen Mannion – Hetereosexual, Platonic Cross-Gender Friendships–Learning from Gay & Lesbian Christians

Jim Henderson – Jesus Had A Thing for Women and So Do I

Elizabeth Chapin – 50 Shades of Friendship

D. L. Webster – Expressing Love Outside of Romance

February 2013 Synchroblog: Cross Gender Friendships

 

 

Many still buy into the idea that men and women can’t be friends and married people can never have a close and authentic relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

Sexualization, fear, shame and power issues often stop men and women from loving each other as friends; and the divide is frequently perpetuated in the Christian community by keeping men in men’s groups and women in women’s groups.

However, there is a growing consensus that cross gender friendships are not only possible, but important, valuable and beneficial in helping us to overcome sexism in our communities, eliminate harmful stereotypes and promote understanding between men and women that can lead to greater justice and equality.

This month we invite you to blog about cross gender friendships.

Here are some questions to get your creative juices flowing:

Can cross-gender friendships diffuse power in gender relations? Must all friendships fit into heterosexual scripts with a romantic trajectory? Can men and women partner together in friendship to overcome patriarchy and sexism? Can deep friendships between men and women overcome objectification and inequality found in many heterosexual romantic relationships?

As always, post your link here by Tuesday, February 12. The link list will get posted on Wednesday, February 13.  After the link list is posted we ask that everyone add the list of links to the end of their post as this allows readers to move from one post to the next easily and it increases traffic for everyone’s blog.

We ask that all participants please add this short paragraph to the beginning of your synchroblog post:

This post is part of the February Synchroblog “Cross Gender Friendships”.  I will list the links to all the contributions at the end of this post as soon as they are available.