This is a post that is almost certainly going to get me into trouble somewhere and with someone... July 15, 2011

… although I’m not casting aspersions in advance at anyone I know, just more concerned with the temperature of people’s feelings & possible verbal combustion.

Having said that… for anyone who follows me on any social networks, you may have noticed that the vast majority of the people I count as friends (both in the actual sense of the word and the bubble-gum-esque neo-definition that seems to be the coin of the realm in many modern social settings on the internet) are of the female gender. Now, as a hetero guy, I like women. I’m rather keen on them, you might say, and I could say rather a lot about it if decorum wasn’t an issue. But it is, and besides the fact that’s not why the numbers skew the way they do when it comes to whom I interact with online.

The simple fact of the matter is that I tend to get along quite a bit better with the opposite gender. I’ve had some pet theories around that, but when I’ve bothered to really dig into them, they’ve really never held up to scrutiny. Sure, my dad wasn’t around much when I was growing up so I spent a ton of time with my mom and my sisters, and I also spent a good chunk of time growing up being bullied by guys… but mostly, think it comes down to something that you can see in this video… take a moment to watch (some questionable/possibly vulgar content, headphones if you’re at work):

In my own life experience, the perpetrator of giant metal chickens in the house, or a plan to shout “WOLVERINES” loudly is usually female, and not male. I’m not totally sure why this is, but in my life so far, this has proven to be the case.

I’m not trying to start a discussion about the divisions between the sexes, or the politics surrounding those divisions. And I’m not saying unequivocally that the majority of men are staid grumpuses or are not prone to the sort of frivolity that I personally find to be nourishment for the soul – rather I’m just saying that’s the way my life has arranged my experiences, and as a result, my preferences. It’s also hilariously ironic, because as a teenager, I was possessed of such crippling anxiety, ESPECIALLY around girls, that it’s a wonder I didn’t regularly defecate and flee like a squid shooting out ink to confuse a predator.

I’m happy to open discussion about this, with the caveat that everyone is to be respectful, and I would also recommend lots of “I” statements as opposed to “you” or “they”, etc etc etc. But I’m curious if any of you have a similar breakdown and why you think that might be – or if there’s really some sort of gender barrier out there towards a certain kind & level of frivolity.