To think having friends of all genders is healthy

If you mean both genders (in the old fashioned, polite way of saying sex), then yes.

Idk if I’ll get flamed for this but I’m going off personal experience, but I think it’s more important for men/boys to have female friends than it is women. I have male friends, but they’re all gay. It’s not by choice, but when I’ve been friends with straight men they’ve always tried it on with me. I hope this changes as I get older, because I would like to expand my friendship circle. I don’t intentionally befriend gay men though, it’s just always happened. My two best friends from school both turned out to be gay, and when I was working I kind of just attracted gay men lol.

As for DP, he has female friends and I thought that was a green flag. Now I know him more though, I look at all his female friends and none of them are his type. He does have a pretty spesific female type, and if I’m 100% honest I might be a bit insecure if he suddenly got a female friend who’s his type even tho I trust him.

DS is 3, so early days, but he does seem to gravitate more towards girls but that could be because he has a sister. We do want to encourage him to have female friends as he gets older though.

Hurray.

@Annettteits really quite sad your friends didn’t move their DS to a more appropriate school for him. Not all boys schools are very masculine, many have space for quieter shy students. It was clearly a poor fit for him and sad his parents didn’t move him, at least at 6th form.

I also wouldn’t presume this is a “being exposed to girls” thing - many a young man and young woman developed and blossomed when thrown into in life, having to cope with living independently but also being surrounded by people from a variety of backgrounds who all are interested in learning.

I honestly cannot even comprehend people who just state

" I don't do male friends"
" I don't do female friends, I"ll NEVER have or want one"

unless there's a massive cultural background behind that segregation.

It is.

Both my children (boy and girl, with a big age gap) have had friends of both sexes from an early age, I think it's good and healthy, ensures they see the other sex as people rather than stereotypes or adversaries.

🤣🤣

no one tell that poster about what people outside MN bubble think about the vagina/ labia debacle 😂

We don't need pages of repeats do we
Or are you deliberately trying to derail the Ops thread ?
We get it it's SEX not GENDER.

I'm going to hold your hand while I tell you this; I don't care, and nor do the vast majority of people outside the Mumsnet bubble.

Think of it as a teaching moment.

This; I think there's a huge difference between someone who has male friends, and someone who won't stop going on about how "I don't get along with women, I'm basically one of the guys, I'm just such good friends with so many men because women are too bitchy" (the epitome of a pick me).

And you don’t think it’s a good thing that one internet space hasn’t confused ‘gender’ and biological sex?

MN is nothing if not predictable; I knew before I even opened the thread that 90% or responses would be "ermm akshually don't you mean BOTH BIOLOGICAL SEXES!?!?!?!?!?!" 🤣

Not repeatedly though it's just rude and makes for a very boring thread when posters pompously pile on with their I think you meant sex not gender Op.

To get back to actually answering the question, I couldn't agree more, OP. I think it's a shame (and very retrograde, limited thinking) that women who have male friends are routinely sneered at on MN as 'cool girls' and 'pick-me's'.

Given OP's clarification, on this particular thread, yes. But gender non-conformism, had that been what OP was getting at, is not a 'muddle'.

I only really have female friends, except a few men who I know mostly through their partners (I am on good terms with them but never see them on their own outside of couple meet ups). And some men I know through work or hobbies, but oniy ever see them through work or hobby-related events and in groups.
Most of my female friends are the same tbh. I don't think opposite sex friendships are that common, at least in my social circle. All of us seem quite happy and healthy.

Given the recent Supreme Court ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, I’d say it was important to correct any muddle, or to inform people who live under a rock and think ‘gender’ is a ‘nicer’ way of saying ‘sex’

Why didn't you say "both genders", then? "ALL genders" just sounds daft.

This.

Saw your title and thought you meant we should all befriend someone with pink hair and their own flag to be inclusive.

Thinking about it I do have a few friends who meet this description...

I dunno you know - i feel like a man that has a friend group of both men and women would be secretly in love with one of them

Plus some women are so manipulative and spiteful, I feel like if you were to date a guy like this, youd be on the end of some spiteful mickey taking and him running to them everytime there's a problem 🤷‍♀️

Men aren't great but I dunno 😕

Yes, I have male and female friends.