Dan J. Brennan

Saying Yes to Sexuality and Friendship Pt 1

What would it take for you to say yes to sexuality and friendship?

What would it take for you to say yes to the life-giving power of sexuality in friendship?

Before I proceed further let’s pause briefly and consider what I mean by friendship. Friendship is a voluntary, nonfamilial, nonromantic relationship between a female and a male in which there is no sex or sexual intimacy. In other paradigms friendships occur with “benefits.” That is a current social practice but that is not my intention in my definition of friendship. I don’t intend any kind of “friendly sex.”

So then, what does it mean for one to say yes to sexuality and friendship? I find myself resisting either-or paradigms. I know I am not the only one who resists these simplistic choices. I am writing this with a goal of reaching out to those who would like to see something different than either-or paradigms on sexuality and friendship.

A Flourishing Cross-Gender Friendship

"In our friendship, there has been mutual growing trust, deepening conversation, and mutual risk to explore different boundaries than calculated distance."

My post over on Sacred Friendships Project blog: