How Opposite Gender Friendships Deconstruct Stereotypes

The benefits of friendship with the opposite gender are numerous.  Some of them are more immediately apparent than others: being open to friendships with the opposite gender dramatically broadens one's pool of potential friends, affirms that there is more to human relationships than sexuality or romance, and acknowledges the humanity of the other gender.  There is another benefit to such friendships that demands a special attention, even in this era, for the way that it deconstructs assumptions about gender, however.

Men and women who enjoy deep friendships with the opposite gender are able to see first-hand examples of how individuality refutes the fallacies of stereotypes.  The bond of friendship provides an opportunity for people to see that the other gender is human, differing only in bodily appearance and function.  Anyone can obviously refute gender stereotypes in full with logic alone by pointing out their non sequiturs and other inherent fallacies, but many people are not adept at abstract reasoning, and instead need to see such examples.

Since there is nothing that friends should not talk about as long as they are willing, they are capable of seeing how people of the other gender defy or disprove stereotypes in many aspects of their everyday lives.  That anyone would deny that they fit within stereotypes is a fatal challenge to assumptions about gender, but that people contradict stereotypes on a daily basis, knowingly or unknowingly, disproves them (a feat that can be accomplished by private use of logic alone, as aforementioned).  Individuality is always on display in some form whether people who harbor patriarchal or matriarchal beliefs notice them or not, but simply befriending a person of the opposite gender puts individuality out in the open for both parties to see.

Unfortunately, many people are far too unintelligent to realize that there are no desires, talents, or psychological/personality traits that a person has because of their gender through logical reasoning alone, and so becoming friends with people of the opposite gender can break down ideological barriers that would otherwise stand.  Women with opposite gender friendships can see that men are not hyper-fixated on sex, incapable of experiencing deep emotions, eager to commit acts of violence, or incapable of being physically or sexually abused by women; men with opposite gender friends can see that women are not incapable of leadership skills, unable to stand up for themselves, devoid of physical strength, lacking in intelligence, or asexual/demisexual in nature.

Only the widespread acceptance of individualism will strike the killing blow in the prevalence of sexist attitudes and behaviors, but the complete deconstruction of stereotypes on a societal level is unlikely to occur until opposite gender friendships are normalized to a greater extent.  A society cannot utilize its fullest potential without the sincere, total collaboration of men and women, and friendship is the best way (other than a priori reasoning) to realize this.  Friendship between the two genders is vital to the health of an egalitarian culture.