The person I interviewed for this blog post doesn’t actually have one singular best friend, but a group of around 8-9 nine individuals. Although Based on the assigned reading it seems that the interactions between the group members doesn’t whole heartedly fit into the “Man Box” my interviewee did say that they almost never hang out one on one with each other and that when they all get together its generally around 4 individuals at least. This one aspect can be seen to fit the stereotype to a certain degree.

The person I chose to interview for this blog post claims to be close with his current friend group for multiple reasons. They all share a similar type of humour and have been able to forge many inside jokes and relate them back to memories because of it, which has helped to strengthen the bond between them all. The group of them have known each other for many years and being young adults now, they’ve basically grown up together. They’ve all gone through some kind of hardship while knowing one another and have all been able to “band together as bros” and help each other out. The bond between them seems more than solid.

Contrary to what the text suggests the group of guys don’t actually have specific activities they do together. Generally they’re more than content to drive around town listening to music or hang out at each others houses. As the kids say these days the boys do #turnup however in comparison to most stereotypes they are generally a very laid back group.

Their relationships in regard to (verbal) affection are rather interesting though. For example they show no fear posting a snapchat story for each other birthdays with a heart emoji and saying “I love you man, I hope you have a blessed day”. But my interviewee seemed a little weirded out when I asked him if things like that were ever said face to face, “um well sometimes I guess, thats not stuff we really say though. Even though we feel it, we all just kinda know we do.” Was what he awkwardly stammered.

For this blog I interviewed a close buddy of mine whom I’ve known for 18 years. He has most masculine stereotypes which is why I thought he would be and appropriate interviewee.

The first question I asked was “why are you close with your friend?” to which he replied;”Because we have a lot in common, we trust one another, we got each others backs and we do a lot of fun stuff together.”

The second question was “What kinds of things do you like to do together?”; “We often smoke together, workout, go partying, play sports, play video games, hangout wherever we may be, go out to eat and chill at each others crib.”

Lastly I asked my friend “Have you ever told your friend how much he means to you? If so, what did you say and how did he react? If you have never told him how much he means to you, why not?” and he said “Yes of course. I just told him how important he was to me and that he helps me better myself and that I’m very grateful to have known him. He just said thanks man I feel that same about you.”

For this blog, I interviewed one of my best friends. I asked this best friend 3 questions, which are “Why are you close to me (his best friend)?”, “What kinds of things do you like to do together?” and for the last question ” Have you ever told your friend how much he means to you?”, I already know the answer for that.

When I asked the first question, he told me that he was very close to me because he felt comfortable being himself around me and that he never felt judged. He also said that he is very close to me because he could talk to me about anything, and would always come to me when he needed someone to talk to.

When I asked the second question, he said “everything, like our depression sessions late night in the car, our hangouts and literally all the time because we’re always joking around and having fun.”

And for the last question, yes, my best friend has repeatedly expressed to me how grateful he is to have me in his life and how much I mean to him, and I express that to him too.

For this blog, I interviewed a male whom I’m very close with. I chose this specific male because I’ve seen how tight his relationship with his best friend is and it appears different than others I’ve seen. The first question I asked was, why are you close to your best friend? He explained followed the question by explaining that his best friend is a very close family friend, therefore they’ve known each other since birth practically. He explained how his friendship with him grew on a more emotional level as they grew older because when they started having girlfriends, they used each other’s advice on how to proceed at times. They also explained to each other how much their girlfriends mean to them, why it is that they love them (not for sexual reasons) and their fears of loosing their girlfriends as well. He explained to me that they’re close because they connect so well with each other when it comes to communicating about other relationships and they offer each other support.

The second question, what do you enjoy doing together? He said that they enjoy going out together and each other’s presence. For example during a hard day or tough time he enjoys his presence. Things they enjoy doing are partying, sports, school work and also “picking up girls”. They enjoy some activities together but they also enjoy things together on an emotional level.

Lastly, have you ever expressed how much he means to you? He explained that he has. During a tough day and when he felt like he had no one on his side, he realized that he was always there. That’s when he expressed how much he means to him. His reaction was that he reciprocated the same emotions as him.

To conclude, we both thought that this saying is true, “tough times, reveal true friends”. Whether it’s with a male or female, this always applies.

By analyzing my results based on the ideas and theories presented in “No Man Is an Island: Men in Relationships” by Christopher Kilmartin and Andrew P. Smiler, I notice that the person I interviewed has a special relationship with his best friend. When I asked him why he was close to his best friend, he wasn’t very specific, but he simply replied that they “understood each other”. According to him, the fact that they come from the same country makes things much easier since they have a lot in common. Then, when I asked what kinds of things he like to do together, he literally told me “nothing”. He is the kind of person who doesn’t like go out. They only stay home, watching TV, talking to each other and eat. I was kind of surprised when he said that. Usually, guys play video games, go out and talk about sports, but my friend and his best friend just sit on the sofa doing nothing.

One of the researchers in the study described friendships as “part of a performance of masculinity” (Migliaccio, 2009, p. 227). However, if we take the person I interviewed as an example, he and his best friend don’t express any kind of “performance of masculinity”. I only know that they are not really emotional, but competition is not part of their daily.

Lately, when I asked my friend if he has ever told his best friend how much he means to him, he said sans “never” without hesitation. When asked why, he frankly explained to me that “they didn’t have to talk to know that they mean a lot to each other.” I felt like it was obvious to him. He didn’t necessarily have to use words to express his feelings and as long as they could trust each other and have a good time together, that’s all that matters, according to my friend.

This fits perfectly with the qualities one bestows on a best friend according to what is said on page 163 of chapter 8 of the text “No Man Is an Island: Men in Relationships”. In fact, “the quality of a best friend is determined by his ability to be trustworthiness, determined by his ability to respect and keep secrets. I can infer that their relationship mainly provides an emotional intimacy. I doubt that they talk about their feelings, but we can see that they have a connection between them and that they surely share a lot of personal information.

For this specific blog, I chose to interview a man who’s more than a friend, but also a person who finds the pleasure in mocking me and keeping me on my feet; my brother. Growing up, we were very close and had lot’s in common. Now however, we’re more distant and keep our lives private and closed off. So, I decided to interview him about his best friend, and hopefully come to understand a little more about him and his relationships with his bosom buddy.

He answered the first question by telling me that he’s close to his best friend because they’ve spent their childhood growing up together and have experienced life’s challenges hand-in-hand. His best friend knows how to cheer him up when he’s feeling moody and he’s someone who which he confides.

Secondly, they enjoying camping together and going on long bike rides. At the age of 8 years old, they were both enlisted in Boy Scouting where they learned how to put up a tent and survive in the forest. My brother mentioned having so much fun playing basketball with him outside during the summer or just chilling out at his house.

Lastly, him and his best friend aren’t afraid to shelter themselves from their emotions or feel pressured to not be vulnerable or sad. Whenever they separate, they say “love you bro”, not caring what anyone else thinks because “that’s how I truly feel”.

Looking back to the ideas in “No Man Is an Island”, by Christopher Kilmartin, ,my brother hasn’t followed the stereotypical behaviours of how best friends, or men in general, should act around each other. He believes that if you are truly friends with someone, you shouldn’t be afraid to tell them how much they mean to you, especially your best friend.

First question asked, why are you close to your friend? He replied “ because we’ve known each other for a long time, we have the same interests, a lot of things in common and they help each other. 

The second question was , what kinds of things do you do like doing together? My friend answered “ hang out, listen to music, go clubbing, playing video games and debating”.

Finally I asked if he’s ever told his friend how much he meant to him? He calmly said “no,never “. I then asked why , “because he never felt the need to” . He also replied calmly. 

In conclusion, i feel like he was so calm because it is “generally normal” not to show emotion. To my understanding there is a sexual barrier, where they probably rarely expresses their feelings or show affection to each other because they don’t wanna be seen as “weak”. But yet being affectionate shouldn’t make them feel uncomfortable, they should be confortable enough around each other to share anything since they’ve been friends for so long 

I interviewed one of my best friends, who I shall not name to keep his privacy. When I interviewed him I asked him three questions. Why are you close to your friend? What kinds of things do you like to do together? Have you ever told your friend how much he means to you? If so, what did you say and how did he react? If you have never told him how much he means to you, why not?

For the first question he told me, that he’s close to me because we’ve always been together. Since we met in Sec. 3 in high school, we’ve always been in the same classes. He said that we have very similar personalities and interests, and have the same sense of humour making me always have fun together.

When I asked him what kind of things he likes to do together, we both chuckled. He said we can literals do anything and we’ll have fun. We always make jokes and joke about past memories. He said his favourite thing to do however is anything stupid. Since we always have fun when we do anything stupid.

He told me he’s only told me how much I meant to him once, a while ago. He said that he doesn’t say it because it’s a bit of an unspoken thing, as he said, “he knows he’s like a brother to me and he knows that I will help him no matter what. He’s one of my best friend and he knows that I love him like a brother”.

Being close to someone or mostly called as a friend started with a shared experience. Sometimes a fight between men could start a relationship because you both shared the same experience. Something you can related with someone is emotion, activities\ hobbies, opinions or even goals and that only start friendship.Paraphasing in “Men in Relationships” You can make a friend on video games, too online. Just by playing, having the same interset of games or even a opinion of the aspect of the game. Then, it’s easy to talk to them about life, you help eachother like we’re brothers. But, if you are in a group then, it’s not a problem it just changes the mood of everyone. It’s unsettlte that there’s a friend to be emotionly conncet when the others are not. Which in “Men in Relationships” explains. If your friend feels bad then you feel bad. You’ll don’t want to change the mood of people when you guys are out having for fun. That’s sometimes why we hide it. Also, insult are not taken seriously. Why? Because you know that your best friend is just playing and they’ll always be by your side no matter what but this can be misleading and hurt.

Playing video games, is the number one thing for me. If you are in war then you in war with your best friend; we don’t fight eachother. We strategize, report, call outs, and most importantly trust eachother in the plan because if someone not doing their job we all going down. We also share memes which shares our interset too. And understanding that both of us is anti-social.This is a status relationship within “Men in Relationships”. Just talking about our hobbies, but if we have problems within our lives then I have no shame to share it with the others and sometime a best friend is easier to talk to then a family members. That is what we mentally know. We don’t need to say that we are close or explain it is was it is.

I have said of the value of my best friend and I’ll do the same thing to help them when they’re down, but most of the time they know already that your voices, appearance, and your interset is enough to know that they got your back.And I got them. We say “Bro I love you” then “No homo” to show our gratitude. No homo just limites the word love or a respectable love. Their reacting is “I know” which is common then “Love you too, No homo” with a response. If you say it too many times then they might be concerned about you and it okay to be gay.

The first question I asked was “Why are you close to your friend?”, he took a long time to respond, so long that I told him to pass for the next one. For the second question, what he said he likes to do with this friend is going out for camping and road trips, taking photography and playing video games. Moreover, the next question was if he ever told his friend what he means to him, he answered that he did at the time when they went out for camping, he said they had a deep conversation with each other, talking about how much they’ve gone through their lives and they’re still and will be there for each other. He said his friend’s reaction was he smiled and agreed. I went back to ask him the first question, he said it is why they’re close because they count on and support one another. 

Though in the text it states “Reflecting masculine norms male-only groups are often activity based instead of relationship based and thus their members come together to do a specific thing and not to build relationship or maintain their relationships” (Kilmartin, 169).  It’s true to the fact that they will do an activity based to brought them together but from what I heard from my male friend and his friend is that not only it give the bond but it also gave them the realization that they are like brothers. They find time to get together and I think even though they may lack showing or telling each other’s feelings, actions still speak louder than words. Mostly through actions, they get together and also get to understand each other well, this can either create or destroy a relationship. But, if they have similar interests then they are bound to get closer to each other.