Part III. Psychology of sex relations. Behavioral therapies.

3.1 Psychology of sex relations Text 1.Can Men and Women Be Friends?

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, it may explain at least one of their shared beliefs: men and women can't be real friends. Blame the sexual tension that almost inevitably exists between any red-blooded, heterosexual man and woman. Point to the jealousy that plagues many rational people when a significant other befriends someone of the opposite sex. Boil it down to the inherent differences between the sexes. It just can't be done. Right?

Wrong, relationship experts have said. The belief that men and women can't be friends comes from another era in which women were at home and men were in the workplace, and the only way they could get together was for romance. Now they work together and share sports interests and socialize together. This cultural shift has encouraged psychologists, sociologists and communications experts to put forth a new message: though it may be tricky, men and women can successfully become close friends. What's more, there are good reasons for them to do so.

Society has long singled out romance as the prototypical male-female relationship because it spawns babies and keeps the life cycle going; cross-sex friendship, as researchers call it, has been either ignored or trivialized. We have rules for how to act in romantic relationships (flirt, date, get married, have kids) and even same-sex friendships (boys relate by doing activities together, girls by talking and sharing). But there are so few platonic male-female friendships on display that we're at a loss to even define these relationships.

Assignments

I Memorize the following words and phrases:

inevitably	неминуче
to plague	надокучати, турбувати
significant	важливий
inherent	уроджений
tricky	складний, заплутаний
to spawn babies	народити немовлят
to single out	визначати
to befriend	ставитися по-дружньому
to boil down	зводити (до чогось)
to ignore	ігнорувати
to trivialize	перетворювати на банальність
to put forth a new message	висунути нову ідею

II. Suggest the Ukraeinian equivalents of the words and phrases below. Use them in sentences:

sexual tension; read-blooded; heterosexual; jealousy; rational people; to befriend someone of the opposite sex; differences between the sexes; to become close friends; to keep the life cycle going; cross-sex friendship; date; to get married; same-sex friendship; platonic male-female relationships; romantic relationships.

III. Translate into English:

1. Судження про те, що чоловік та жінка не можуть бути друзями, походить з минулого, коли чоловік працював, а жінка була лише домогосподаркою.

2. Існують певні правила щодо романтичних стосунків: спочатку –залицяння, потім побачення, освідчення, одруження.

3. Чоловік та жінка можуть просто товаришувати і перебувати в платонічних стосунках.

IV. Answer the questions:

1. Do you believe in platonic male-female friendship? Prove your point of view.

2. What cultural shift has encouraged psychologists to put forth a new message: men and women can become close friends?

3. What rules for how to act in romantic relationship are there in our society?

4. In what way can men and women socialize together?

5. What keeps the life cycle going?