I'm a girl with no female friends

India
July 29, 2007 5:24am CST
I'm 25 year old woman, and I haven't had another female friend since I was 18. All of my friends are guys. I feel kind of bad about this, but I'm not sure what to do. The problem is I don't trust women at all. I've had such terrible experiences with female friends in the past (cattiness, backstabbing, jealousy, you name it) that I practially avoid other women like the plague. As a young kid I was "friends" with a group of girls who relentlessly verbally and physically abused me. It took such a toll on my self esteem that I was deeply depressed through most of my childhood and still haven't completely recovered. In high school I tried to make new friends, hooked up with another gruop of girls who without explanation suddenly stopped talking to me one day. The same thing happened in my first year of college. I was part of a tight knit group of girls and suddenly they started ignoring me. Never explained why. And it's not just the cliques...my individual female friends have also treated me badly. Practically every female friend I've had at some point made a disparaging comment about my looks at one point or another or always acted super competitive around me. I don't want to write off women altogether, but my past experience makes it tempting to. I feel like I need some female friends in my life to be healthy. Are most girls just like this? How do I make friends with girls who are actually decent people?
8 people like this
24 responses
• India
29 Jul 07
Just try to follow these steps : when u make friend especially girl friend try to judge the personality of that girl means whether she is of friendly nature or of friendly nature etc. secondly, don't make friends in a lot groups means u can see from your past girl friends circle in group u always get regrets. Its actually the same in group girls show off mainly & that makes jeoulisy for others. make only one or two friends of good nature who is close to you can understand you. Thirdly, try to talk with your girl friends about you & her nature this will guide a little bit about her & your surroundings that what others think of you & try to mold yourself with that. Fourthly, n lastly try to avoid the useless thinking that she is not talking with you or she is avoiding me. You are having your own life to live & if someone not talks with you she or he loosing something not you. Try to be positive thinking. This life is for just taking & giving. there is noone here for anyone.. I hope u will follow the steps may god bless you n u come over your depression.
2 people like this
• China
29 Jul 07
first,25-year-old girl can not be called "old women".second,there are many girls whose character are the same as you.so you don't need to worry about it.the last,you should open your heart to other girls.good girls are in everywhere.you can try to talk with some girls around you about some little thing,such as makeup,clothes,and so on.then you can make friends with them.
2 people like this
@nangel78 (1454)
• United States
29 Jul 07
There are a lot of women with good character out there. You just have to be careful about who you trust. Men are not much better than women as friends. I just had a male friend try to come in between in my marriage and now we are not friends anymore.
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jul 07
I have a few women friends, but not real close friends, and I have a few male friends, but not anyone I call when I feel a need to talk. So I'm not sure what to tell you is "healthy." I'm married, so friendships sorta take a backseat to family. But the few women friends I do have are married also, or are older, so they understand. I recently had a "friend" of our family who decided she wanted my husband, and went after him, so now I'm a little leary at having women over to the house.
1 person likes this
@subathra (3519)
• India
30 Jul 07
It really sounds strange to me.Wonder why all these girls behaved and treated you in this manner.I have a mixture of friends in which most are girls and some boys.I have some best friends way from my kg classes and still we are in contact. i did have some problems with both girls and boys like some silly fights in classes which was very common.But in my college days i never had any problem and its a girls college and our class was so united in all aspects.. Actaully it doesnot matter as you feel comfortable with your boy friends but if you wish to make some good girl friends try to make friendship with a girl in your work place and share your feelings.Hope you will not come across someone like you have met in your past..
1 person likes this
@mdvarghese (1789)
• Bangalore, India
29 Jul 07
My kind request you to is to adjust with some women friends.From your narration, what I can understand is that there is some problem with you. You dont think that all your friends are jealous about you and backstabbing.So you try to study it properly.As you say a female needs atleast one female friend to share all the problems till her marriage. You can nnot share all your problems with a guy.
@palina77 (1177)
• United States
3 Aug 07
I am female, let us bind ourselselves as net friend through mylot. This will reduce your sorrow of not having female friend... I will be your good net friend and we will discuss our life story by mail. My name is Palina (Poly) and I am Roman Catholic Christian. Very broadminded and juicy. I am serving my local poor widow women through a charity. I will tell you lot of true story about those women. My yahoo id is: paulinedhk@yahoo.com where you can send me mail to know my details my photo and etc. etc.
@mymytri (2030)
• India
31 Jul 07
Oh touchnshine!!Strangely i dont have female freinds now.I had in my college days and school days but all of them settled in different places and busy with their endevours.They dont have enough time to spend with me.They always enageged in their work or with their family.Well i met some guys when i was going to computer classes,now they are the friends with whom i spend some time when i feel free,Even they have settled down in their own jobs,but they always online,so i can talk to them easily compare to female.I believe that getting good freinds in life is a god gift.If we get good freinds we are lucky.
• India
2 Aug 07
Hi touchnshine! That has been the case with me to until a year back when one of my female collegues became my best friend. I normally do not jell well with females and have had only male friends all my life. I too had faced experiences of backstabbing and jealousy from females which has always discouraged me from having female friends.
@liyan97 (2127)
• Northern Mariana Islands
29 Jul 07
Hello there touchshine! I know how you feel for I am woman two and have only 3 close girlfriends. I really can’t say that it is normal for us to seek friendships with men rather than women, simply because like you mentioned it is the jealousy, back stabbing and just plain old drama that makes us fed up quickly. All I know is that I am grateful with the friends I have in my life and thankful for the ones I have met through Mylot. I guess that is the beauty of Mylot. I have made many wonderful friendships with women here who have always come to my aide in cases where I am seeking advice that only a woman can give, yet I don’t experience that drama otherwise provided from the women that I know personally on a day to day basis. Especially the competition, I will not compete with anyone based on looks, style or anything else for that matter but then it seems like it is inevitable when you have girlfriends. I am friendly to everyone but it is those who share the same attitude as me that I really become close to. My three girlfriends are just like me, no nonsense, funny, we all can laugh at anything and everything and as strait forward as I am. I believe that having the same outlook on life and attitude about the life we have now plays a huge role in our friendship because we know what makes each other tick and it is easier for us to avoid arguments. Unless of course when we make each other mad just for the heck of it….lol... I don’t think that you have to have girlfriends to keep a health life, but it is nice to have someone who can understand you in ways men can’t.
1 person likes this
• Malaysia
30 Jul 07
i don't have that much female friends either. sometimes i find it very hard to get along with girls because they tend to be competitive, and if i don't live up to their expectations they'll talk bad about you or ditch you or something. and if you have something better than them or something that they don't have, then they'll get jealous and will still ignore you. we're not in high school anymore so i don't understand why we all can't get along with each other like rational young adults, without having bad feelings towards others? you can find a girl friend, probably in the initial stage you wouldn't want to get too close to her or something hehe..but chances are, most girls are just conscious about how they look, what they wear etc, so they don't have much time to worry about others. anyway don't feel bad if you don't have any close/good female friends, male friends will do just fine heheheh ;)
• United Arab Emirates
29 Jul 07
Hi, I think you should not worry too much about this. I know how it feels to be ignored. Just, try to make some friends online and then see if it works. Good luck.
• Malaysia
29 Jul 07
Hi Miss Touchnshine..perhaps the best idea will be see change in your mind where dont be too choosy or try to give in a bit to find a perfect girl frined for you...sounds you have same wave as boys have but why dont you try to be more female sense rather than male sense(hope you understand what i tried to meant)...maybe you feel you scared what the past had happen to you but remeber every success there will be a failure..so why think of the past..just move foward ...and think positive...for every act of you there will be consequence..hope you can get the meaning from me
@mumu74 (1)
• Australia
2 Aug 07
Hi touchnshine, I stumbled across your story while I was reading up on your exact problem, I tried to respond before, so if this doubles up please forgive me....this is going to be a long one. What you have experienced happens all the time....but this does not make it okay. Without knowing how you behave around people it sounds like you have been a target for women projecting their insecurities in your direction. Cattiness, backstabbing and competitiveness are the hallmarks of what you have mentioned jealousy, only it seems like you have had quite an amplified dose. It is not that all women are like this, women who have not learnt to curb their insecurities will direct it at what they percieve to be the easiest target or the one they feel deserves it. When people say nasty things about another, they are often projecting at you what they hate most about themselves. So, it is not about you, it is about people behaving badly and misdirecting their self loathing at you. So, I am guessing that you are attractive, articulate and have achieved a few things in your life that may have caused jealousy. Women will often lash out when they feel threatened, it sounds like you have things other people want and admire. Unfortunately what has been happening is that people want you to feel as bad about yourself as they do. Please know, it is not about you, you probably rock! What to do....million dollar question really. As this has been a pattern in your life there are a few things you may need to think about. I understand that you have been depressed about this, being abused both mentally and physically as child is shocking and it is no wonder you feel that you have not fully recovered. This is an indication that you need to work on your self esteem and boundaries on what you are prepared to put up with from people. I am wondering if you were bullied or treated with disrespect at home by someone. Our behavioural patterns start very early and if bullying started early at school or home there is a good chance it will stick...UNTIL, you put a stop to it. Work out what your boudaries are, what type of friends you want and speak up(this can be hard). If someone says something distasteful, let them know it is not cool. If you don't, their comments will get worse, silence to bullies is like an open door. To start off with, avoid women in groups, people tend to bond over dislike and it sounds like you are an easy target. Follow your passions and start friendships with people that share your interests - sport, art, music...whatever. Steer clear of women who are fond of talking about others, in particular women who are negative and just want to talk about what others should do with their life. Negative women are poisonous and will try to bring you down, you don't need it. The best women to hang out with are those who are happy with their life or are trying to make the best of life. Listen to your instincts, if you feel a negative vibe, trust yourself and move on. There are many lovely women out there....you have to search and have standards (sounds like finding a man really!) Think about how you behave around groups....do you speak with a domineering touch or do you speak out too little perhaps? If there are areas that maybe you could enhance or refine your personality, go for it. Try to be objective about how you behave in social situations. Many women get very territorial about men, if you are a bit of a flirt with men other women like or are with this could be part of the problem....perhaps men like you and women are jealous of this? Think about your previous relationships and try to learn from them, if you don't try understand the behaviour of other people towards you, this pattern will most likely keep repeating. Understand yourself and others, infact pitying people that behave badly might be a good place to start. Take the power back and take a humble high road. Embrace who you are, if others don't dig you, that is their problem and loss. I would rather have one good friend - male or female than a pack of nasty women who try to bring me down.
@balasri (26537)
• India
30 Jul 07
Don't you worry honey.All my beat friends are girls.And I am normal too.
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
29 Jul 07
I have been there, and done that. I do have a couple of female friends now. We do not necessarily hang out a lot, but they are there for me. I can contact them. I can talk girl stuff with them. Some of that may be because we are married and that plays into it. I am not implying that you should get married just to help your social life, just stating that for me it made a difference in my security, and ability to deal with women. There are others, still in my life, that may turn on me like a tiger at the slightest comment. I then blow it off, and chat it out with one of my two good friends. I get good feedback and support from them. I guess they are the quality friends in my life.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
30 Jul 07
I'm also a woman with no female friends. I also have no male friends. Looks like I got you beat at the no friend thing. :P LOL My only friends are my husband and kids. That's it. I know how 'friends' can be and I'd rather just avoid all the crap that comes along with it. I've had friends before in the past (before I got married), heck I even communicate with some of them now and then through email or myspace, though I haven't seen any of them (in person) in years.
• India
30 Jul 07
Get to know people before you actually becaome friends with them, instead of just going in with every1 u see. or join some communities where people share your interests. try some of them in orkut for instance. that's all there is to getting good friends, the easiest way to make friends is from school or college, or thru some1 you aready know. and try to find out why these friends of urs hav been ignoring you.
• India
30 Jul 07
i don't belive this.
• Philippines
30 Jul 07
touchnshine..not every girl are with the same attitude..if those girls from the past had an attitude problem then don't see it in general..remember in order to gain trust you must give out trust..get out of the shelf..take off the grudge and dump it..its not that bad to make friends with gals like you..you just have to pick the right friends..remember also that we cannot please everyone in this world..someone will sure hit us from where we are standing so we must not let them get into us or else we just fed them with whats making them happy..start building a good girlfriends..