Friendship & Gender

This session explored what the “catch-up friendship crisis” says about how we structure relationships and whose connections society devalues. Drawing on a video essay on female loneliness, we examined how capitalism-induced busyness, the privileging of romantic partnerships over friendships, and heteronormative socialisation shape how women form and maintain close connections. We also considered how queer communities model friendship differently, and what the growing therapy culture means for platonic intimacy.

1. What does friendship mean to you?
   • Do you have enough close friends? Enough depth?
   • How much time do you actually spend with friends vs. in couples or family contexts?
2. The catch-up friendship crisis
   • Why women's friendships get squeezed by life stages and competing expectations
   • Capitalism and the commodification of time — friendship as a casualty
3. Romance vs. friendship
   • How society treats romantic partnership as the primary relationship
   • The "friendzone" and what it reveals about how we value platonic connections
4. Queer and trans perspectives on friendship
   • How queer communities model chosen family differently
   • Heteronormative socialisation and its effects on how we learn to be friends
5. Therapy culture
   • Are we outsourcing emotional intimacy to therapists?
   • What does this mean for the depth of platonic friendships?