Female Identification

We will examine the relative degrees of friendship, or intimacy, in an actual dyadic relationship, in this case, one involving two women, one a lesbian and the other, a heterosexual. Because a dyadic relationship is generally regarded as a sociologically significant relationship between two individuals, traditionally a man and a wife, we will look at two women sharing the intimacies of close friendship with some expectation that dissonance may result because of their differing sexual orientations.

The intimate feelings that women share with one another may lead them to form closer, more intimate relationships with one another than they share with men (Rubin 141). In view of interpersonal research, such a fact is not surprising, given that men have more difficulty with the expression of shared feelings than do women. Shreve uses a discussion between two women, both

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e Lillian B. Rubin's explanation of "why adult women value emotional relationships so much" in Intimate Strangers: Men and Women Together (cited in Trenholm and Jensen 320). Denise and Leslie's friendship found a new, more profound level after Denise confided in her friend. Stronger emotional bonds were formed out of such shared verbal intimacy. Rubin argues for a "complex blend of cultural fact, psychological development in childhood, and the reinforcement of social institutions" (320) to explain the fact that women develop strong emotional bonds to one another because they are just recapitulating an earliest childhood relationship with their mothers with whom they have already anatomically and psychologically identified. In the same vein, Marsh notes that "friendships between women involve more affectionate behavior and more disclosure of confidences--they are more person-oriented . . . Women experience their friendships as warmer, more satisfying, and more important than men do" (172). Lillian B. Rubin offers further insight into women's shared intimacy in her Just Friends: The Role of Friendship in Our Lives. She asserts that women have the capacity to connect emotionally with other women without homophobia, a fear o
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Approximate Word count = 3107
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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