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4 Reasons to Have a Guy Friend

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This is the Maxie-est of Maxie Monday posts! When I was younger, I almost only had girl friends. Maybe one or two guys from class, but really mostly girls. It wasn’t until I switched from the girl’s to the boy’s rowing team in high school that I started making guy friends! And throughout college most of my friends were guys (because of crew). The differences between the friendships were huge, not in a necessarily good or bad way, just different. It helped having both perspectives and I learned a lot from both my girl and guy friends! Loving Maxie’s tips on why having a guy friend can be helpful:
4 Reasons to Have a Guy Friend
Guest Post by Maxie McCoy
Every friendship offers us a fresh perspective. That outgoing friend makes you feel more socially adventurous. The fashionable friend helps you understand the power of a killer look. The funny friend shows you that laughs don’t have to come at someone else’s expense.
And then there’s the guy friend. 
Growing up I had maybe one or two guy friends, but really they were just boys I had crushes on but I was too scared to tell them. So I decided guy friends weren’t really my thing. I didn’t ever think I was really a “guy’s girl” anyways (as if that was some formula). So most of my life was spent surrounding myself with an amazing tribe of women. 
It wasn’t until I got older and developed a couple amazing friendships with the opposite sex, that I realized the value I’d been missing out on. While brothers and dads are incredible, there’s something about a great guy friend that can help you see things and grow in a totally different way (like this). I realized the power of these friendships probably a little later than most, but consider these as you’re building out your own sparkling web of friendship and support systems:
Go After It
Just because you know what you want, doesn’t mean you always have the courage to insert yourself. It can be hard. However, one of the amazing things about great guy friends is that being aggressive comes more naturally to them. Thus, their advice is probably going to push you outside of your comfort zone to ask for what you want– in relationships, in work, in life.  
Problem Solver
Guys can be the best problem solvers. Whether you need some help setting up your Ikea furniture or want to talk through a communication problem that you’re having at work, your guy friend is happy to help because it’s how his brain is wired. Whether or not it would have been how you solved the problem, getting his diverse outlook is going to help you with better solutions in the future.
Honest Support
Your gal pals are probably incredible at telling you honest things in a way that’s tailored and digestible. Your guy friend is going to call a spade a spade. And while this can be insanely blunt, there’s something really refreshing about the approach. His support is honest and to the point, but you know he’s always one of your biggest cheerleaders.
Dating
If you’re single, your guy friend will be a hell of a wingman. He can talk you through your dating woes. He can read between the lines and tell you what that guy is really thinking. A guy friend is even more amazing during these single and dating times.
And if you’re in a relationship, that guy friend is always going to be there for you both. Sometimes male-female friendships can change and evolve when you end up with a partner, but more times than not your relationship gets to benefit from having a fab friend of the couple.
If guys aren’t a part of your friend network now, just be aware and open to it. And put effort in when you can see a friendship in that guy from your group project or team update. Who knows the friendships that will come of it, but when it doesn’t, it will be a friendship that brings a totally different and valuable way of looking at things.


xoxo
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12 Comments

commentor520

While I do agree with the sentiment in this article that male friends, and all other kinds of friends, are invaluable in our lives, I do not agree with the post as a whole as I think it perpetuates stereotypes harmful to all genders. Men are not "wired" to be better problem solvers than women and men are definitely not more aggressive than women. These generalizations are destructive to the years of hard work people of all genders have done to combat such narrow standards. I am disappointed to see this endorsed on a blog that has, in the past, been so helpful and empowering.

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Julia D.

Thank you. That was the exact same problem I had while reading this. I definitely think it deserves a response from Maxie and/or Carly.

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Nicole Savery

This post really rubbed me the wrong way. It heavily on outdated gender stereotypes that are insulting to women. Sure, everyone should have a friend who tells it like it is and "calls a spade a spade," but that friend can be a guy or a girl! Maybe the friend who helps you put together your Ikea furniture is a guy, or maybe it's a girlfriend who has been working out and gotten strong!

I agree with you that it's valuable to have a diverse group of friends and we should be open to friendships with both genders. I just don't think that you explained it very well.

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