Quote:
Originally Posted by angies  So rule number 1. No touching with male friends?
All my male friend know that I am in a relationship. Because we are work coleagues, most of our conversation are work and gym. Occasionally we talk about each other personal life but that is mainly due to my prompting. On the rare occasion when we are out for drinks the conversation can get a bit of adult nature. But we all know where we stand with our friendships. And don't get me wrong I find my male friends attractive, and we do muck around a bit. Note that this is different from flirting. May be that is where I gone wrong. The line is not clear and the guys get confused. |
I'm not sure what you mean by mucking around, and saying it as a steadfast rule "no touching" is a little extreme. But you need to be aware of what kind of messages you may be inadvertently sending, or at very least, how it could be perceived. For example: hugs, handshakes, playful punches/slaps, stuff like that is not a big deal. On the other hand, stuff like hand on the knee, holding hands, grabbing their arm, basically types of touching that can be perceived as flirty, have a great chance of becoming awkward. I can only assume based on your description the latter is closer to what kind of touching you are doing. Even if you have the most benign intentions, guys are socialized and conditioned to view that kind of sensual touching as something you do towards someone you are interested in. I don't have any of this interaction with my female friends, and would definitely be weirded out a bit if I did. If our socially aware friend finds no fault in this, I will gladly concede the point. Just offering a guy's perspective.