to wonder why so many women seem to hate their friends?

[BonniePrinceBilly]

Not a thread about a thread, more like about many threads and RL convos.
So many posters saying how their "friend" did this or that awful thing, or how their "friend" is a total bitch, a smug cow, never gives a birthday present....yadda yadda etc.

Why do you have friends that you don't seem to like? Doesn't it make more sense to move on from friendships that aren't working, or not hang around people you can't stand?

Just wondering, it seems like a ever-recurring theme on here.

But its the annoying things they do that i come on here to whine about. Normally i LOVE my mates.

Most of them have been around for 20 plus years.

i wouldnt dream of bitching about them to other friends, or to them. But feel able to come on here and vent.

YANBU I definitely don't have friends I don't like. A few of them have idiosyncracies that make me smile but anyone that really annoys me I don't bother with. I've noticed exactly what you're saying with other women, however. Someon wouldn't have anything to talk about if they couldn't bitch

I think that women often have trouble breaking contact with people we don't like. I have noticed that my friends (fortunately I like them ) hold me to higher standards of contact than DHs - his friendships even with people he's known since school are more "casual" and he seems to be able to get away with not seeing them so much. Whereas when I try to not go out or call less people get shirty. I think that for these reasons women find it harder to drop people they don't like - men seem to be able to just do it IYSWIM.

Huge generalisations there of course, happy to be told that;s rubbish!

YANBU - this is a very interesting question. For me, I don't call someone a friend unless I really like them 95% of the time - which may be why I have very few friends.

I do have a lot of acquaintances, workmates, and so on, many of whom I like but who irritate me too much to be called friends.

I think it's about how you define "friend".

I don't have any friends who annoy me enough to moan about on here. I know my friends well enough to understand where their occasional annoyingness comes from and forgive it. Also, I don't really rely on my friends as much as others seem to do. My DH is my best friend.

I also agree with TheFarSide - maybe I have fewer friends than some

Thats a good point, perhaps many people say friend when they mean acquaintance?