Visual Argument
As the Oxford Dictionary defines it, friendship is a relationship between two people who share a bond of mutual affection. People have different motivations why they engage in friendship but the image presented in this paper leans towards the claim that the primary drive of men in involving themselves in a cross-sex friendship is to have either romantic, or in the case of the cartoon above, sexual relationship with women. In fact, evolutionary psychologists believe that cross-sex friendship was developed as a form of “sexual strategy.” Since friendship between heterosexual men and women somehow requires proximity to develop, sexual tension becomes so apparent to the point that it cannot be denied.
In an article of an American Psychologist named Dr. Dylan Selterman, he expressed how “men are motivated to mate with an increased number of women due to the low cost of sperm and lower parental investment, whereas women are motivated to be choosier about who they mate with, due to higher costs associated with childbirth and inability to reproduce with someone else when pregnant” (Selterman, 2011). In the image presented, the proof to this can be associated with the direction by which the man’s eyes are drawn. Although the man and woman are at least a foot apart, are not touching each other, and are not even talking about anything remotely sexual or malicious, the eyes of the man give away the hint that the relationship presented is more than just a clean, harmless, and platonic relationship. This is of course at the side of the man. The man is staring directly and intently at the chest part of the woman standing opposite him, suggesting sexual interest. This juxtaposition between the seemingly detached body language through distance from another and the obvious attraction of the man as seen by where his eyes is directed shows that spark of friendship is not solely dependent whether both parties agreed that kindness, good conversation, and companionship are reasons for their immediate resolve (Bleske, 2000).
The image presented can be a potential visual argument for the topic of cross-sex friendship because it is clear in addressing the issue that in a friendship between a man and a woman, it is entirely possible that one of them develops an interest that is beyond the platonic kind. One of the grounds to this claim is the study of Wallid Affifi and Sandra Faulkner. According to the studies and research done by Walid Affifi and Sandra Faulkner, out of more than 300 respondents surveyed, 20% of men and women revealed that they engaged in a physical intimacy with at least one friend (Affifi, 2000). This brings us to the warrant wherein physical intimacy technically ruins the platonic stand of a relationship but does not necessarily ruin the friendship per se. The focus of the image is clear in this regard.
More often than not, an underlying sexual tension also exists even though both parties failed to express it through physical intimacy (Selterman, 2011a). In the image, Facebook serves as the barrier between the physical intimacy that may occur otherwise. That is the grounds to Selterman’s claim. The warrant is that Facebook is a barrier because it distances the man from the woman physically. Facebook is a social media site and people who are in Facebook that some of your Facebook ‘friends’ are people you don’t even get to see often, if at all. However, sexual tension is still clear in the image. That is the backing of your warrant.
Shared interests, hobbies, and activities are not everything in a friendship. The thing is, physical attraction and sexual drive play the most important roles in the start of a cross-sex friendship. The image wants to tell us that cross-sex friendship is not without malice, and that there are only rare cases in which men and women are able to keep their closeness purely platonic. There are those whose romantic feelings remain unresolved and unacknowledged (Halatsis, 2009).
The target audience of the cartoon is people who are more mature or older. This is based on the assumption that younger people may be too ‘innocent’ when it comes to the complexities of cross-sex friendship and as thus, may fail to understand the point of the cartoon.
As the cartoonist of the image above is a man, it can be said that he knows what he is talking about. At some point, he too may have been that man in the cartoon. This can be attributed to ethos because of the assumption that he is a man, therefore he knows how his fellow men thinks. That is, however, as far as ethos goes in this cartoon.
Works Cited:
Selterman, Dylan. “Sexual Strategies in Cross-Sex Friendships. Science of Relationships.” Science of Relationships, 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
Selterman, Dylan. “Cross-Sex Friendships: Can Men and Women Ever Be “Just Friends”? “ Science of Relationships, 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
Crowther, John. “A Friend Indeed.” The Best Funny Galleries Lol Rofl, 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
Affifi, W. & Faulkner, S. On being "just friends": The frequency and impact of sexual activity on cross-sex friendship. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 17(2), 205-222. 2000
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. Sexual Strategies Theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204-232.
Monsour, M., Beard, C., Harris, B., & Kurzweil, N. . Challenges confronting cross-sex friendships: Much ado about nothing? Sex Roles, 31, 55-77.
Halatsis, P., & Christakis, N.. The challenge of sexual attraction within heterosexuals’ cross-sex friendship. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26(6-7), 919-937.
