Sexual Attraction In Cross-Sex Relationships Essay

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Purpose The purpose of this study was to focus on the presence of sexual attraction within cross-sex relationships. They looked at how much of a challenge this may pose on the relationship, whether it is a real or imagined threat. They also attempted to quantify how the sexual attraction would change one’s definition of the relationship and if, or how, the attraction would define the future of the relationship. Several studies have been conducted previously on this topic, however, the researchers aimed to prove many of these wrong, including a study done by Monsour et al. in 1994, who claimed that there was not a significant challenge in cross-sex friendships in the form of sexual attraction on behalf of one or more parties. Research Methods There were two studies conducted based on the researchers’ hypothesis. First, they conducted semi-structured comprehensive interviews where the participants were asked various questions regarding their same-sex friendships and the obvious or latent sexual attractions from either party. The second study was aimed to find a “general quantitative recording of friendly relationships” (Halatsis & Christakis. 2009, p. 927). There were over 300 participants selected with an almost equal number of men and women …show more content…

They did note that all though there will probably be sexual attraction to some extent in all cross-sex relationships, the consequences are “generally not calamitous” (Halatsis et al., p. 935). They also discovered that even if sexual interactions are introduced into a friendship, the party interviewed will still define that relationship as a friendship. This may be in part due to the fact that many of the interviewees saw a relationship as less open and realistic as their

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