Camaraderie With The Opposite Sex

People who think of the opposite sex as "other", and only think of members of their own sex as "camarades" can have a harder time with romantic relationships, and human relations in general. Some who don't have much experience with real friendship with the opposite sex due to however they happened to grow up may not realize that they have more similarities than differences, and that they're human ...beings with the same vast array of emotions, perspectives, experiences, aspirations, strengths and weaknesses, fears and intelligences as their own sex. One may have this perspective from just an absence of peer friendship and regularly shared activities with the opposite sex. They may have had a sister or brother, but were raised to think of one another as very different "species" due to their parents' cultural issues. They may have not had an opposite sex sibling, and the adults in the area inside or outside of the home may have separated girls and boys purposely, creating groups, teams, and clubs that excluded the other sex. (And taught that this is required and try to justify it with all kinds of rationalizing, but have never actually tried anything different.) Many adults even actively "teach" children skewed perceptions about the opposite sex, and convey that ethics and integrity don't apply in the same way to "them" as it does to "our kind".

One is not going to have a healthy, respectful, reliable, supportive and fun relationship with a person who thinks of them as "Other", as "not my kind".
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