Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

For some reason, the topic of the differences between men and women has been on my mind recently. Perhaps it was spurred on by my laugh-out-loud reaction to this cartoon in The New Yorker last week. Then I read this article in the WSJ this morning, entitled, "Friendship for Guys (No Tears!)," about why men's friendships are different than women's." The thesis was this: "Researchers say women's friendships are face to face: They talk, cry together, share secrets. Men's friendships are side by side: We play golf. We go to football games." It continued, "What they don't do is sit around as a group, sharing their deepest feelings....conversations revolve around the doing of things versus the feeling of things." So true.

When you have a girls' night, what does it involve? Chatting, shopping, talking, eating, pampering, and bonding over words. Andy has organized a boy's golf trip for two years in a row and upon his return I always ask what they talked about over their long weekend. Answer: "Nothing." Just golf. Last year they had a group of eight, among whom many of the participants didn't even know each other. That would rarely, if ever, happen on a girls' trip. How wierd to spend so much time with people you have no history with. What would you talk about????

This topic also spurred a conversation between us about how we recreate differently. We do share lots of common interests like reading, going to movies, eating out, etc., but we don't have alot of shared hobbies. Andy prefers to golf, cycle, run, or watch sports on TV to relax, whereas I prefer to get a pedicure, shop, go to a museum, explore somewhere new, attend a cultural event, travel, etc. I don't know if this is common among men and women, but I'd like to think we're not alone.

How do you jointly recreate with your significant other? What about separately? Do you see similar differences betwen male and female friendships? Any interesting stories on the topic(s)?