According to a recent poll by WCIOM, friendship between a man and a woman is an absolutely regular thing. 82% of Russian respondents reported having friends of the opposite gender.
Is friendship between a man and a woman possible?
WCIOM ventured to find out what kind of friends Russians have.
Gender, income level, age, nationality, and religion: Do Russians have friends who are different to them?
- Age is not a problem: 984% of Russians have friends who belong to a different generation. Among people aged 35-44, 90% of respondents have friends who belong to a different generation.
- Cross-gender friendships are a norm: 82% of survey participants reported having friends of another gender. Among 25-34-year-olds, 92% have pals of the opposite gender. The share of cross-gender friendships is also higher among people with college or university degrees (90%) as well as capital-dwellers (89%).
- Differences in income are not a deterrent: 69% of participants have friends with a different level of income. The share of positive responses was higher among people aged 25-34 (79%), people with a good income (74%) and residents of smaller cities (73%).
- Language and nationality are not a barrier: The majority of respondents (64%) have friends of different nationalities. Among people aged 18-24 the share is higher (76%).
- Religion is the largest factor: While the majority of Russians have friends who belong to a different religion, this was the lowest of all scores (52%). Men are more religion-tolerant (62%) than women. Younger people are also more accepting of different religious views (63%).
Data: WCIOM.ru
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Same in Ukraine. I used to have many male friends – not really close ones, but at least we were good buddies. Now I moved to the USA and I’m sooo frustrated. I can not make friends with guys anymore. I noticed they only show interest in me when they plan to ask me for a date. It caused so much frustration, bc I communicated as I normally do, but guys thought that I was flirting or something. I told them that I was not interested romantically and they acted like I was leading them on and got angry. The… Read more »
I think it’s just a prejudice that men and women can’t be friends because someone will necessarily fall in love. It’s sad to see that most people can only think about romantic relationship and they don’t take into account such things as mutual interests, support and so on. Actually, men and women can be really good friends.
The statistics is really unexpected! I could assume there were a few cross-gender friendship relationships in Russia, but 92% fascinated me! Anyways, it is really good in my opinion because neither gender not age should not be a barrier if you are comfortable with the person, common interests are much more important.
It doesn’t matter with whom be friends: boys or girls. The most important thing for me is that he or she is a good pal and I can rely on him or her. A lot of people have the same mind as mine. One of my close friend is a boy. We know each other for 5 years and no one never wanted to be more than friends.
Yeah, I believe there can be a strong friendship between a man and a woman, because there’ll be less envy between them. When I studied in the university, I met a nice man from China during the conference. And soon we’ve become good friends. He taught me Chinese and I taught him the Russian language. Now he lives in China, but we chat with each other, using WhatsApp.
Darina, isn’t using WhatsApp illegal in China?