Pearl - September 24, 2025


Can Men and Women Actually Be Friends or Is This Another Feminist Lie


Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

175.57886

Word count

1,552

Sentence count

144

Harmful content

Misogyny

24

sentences flagged

Toxicity

11

sentences flagged

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Can men and women be just friends? Is it possible for a woman to have male friends and a man to have female friends? Carol and Brenda are here to give their thoughts on the matter. Do women and men really have to be friends?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I actually had lots of straight male friends when I was younger,
00:00:05.120 and I probably ended up sleeping with every single one of them.
00:00:10.580 God bless honest women. Do you know what I mean? 0.98
00:00:14.040 Well, guys, welcome to my reaction series today.
00:00:18.180 We are going to be reacting to,
00:00:20.500 can men and women be friends truly?
00:00:23.840 This is from an older woman.
00:00:25.880 And I actually think men and women can be friends 0.99
00:00:28.620 as long as the woman is ugly. 1.00
00:00:32.060 And even then, it's, you know, but in all seriousness, 1.00
00:00:35.200 as long as the woman is, like, super ugly, 1.00
00:00:39.220 then, you know, they'll say, 0.98
00:00:42.620 are you okay with your boyfriend, your husband having female friends?
00:00:46.940 Women are totally okay with men having female friends 1.00
00:00:49.400 as long as they're ugly. 0.99
00:00:50.700 But if you bring a baddie around, we'll crash out. 0.99
00:00:53.140 We will crash out.
00:00:55.520 Yeah, that's a certified crash out.
00:00:58.060 Well, let's see what this lady says. 1.00
00:01:00.000 Can you believe that it is 30 years since Harry met Sally?
00:01:07.140 No, at least.
00:01:08.080 It's about 100, actually.
00:01:09.560 Do you think?
00:01:10.220 No.
00:01:10.980 What do you think?
00:01:11.780 I can't give it a memory.
00:01:13.360 Really?
00:01:13.980 Sounds very exciting.
00:01:15.140 You've had a good time these last 30 years.
00:01:17.180 I love it.
00:01:18.240 It's part of the debate about whether or not men and women 0.98
00:01:20.640 can really be just friends.
00:01:22.780 And it's something we're still talking about today.
00:01:24.620 So what do you think?
00:01:26.400 In 2019, Brenda, I have many men friends that I'm not intimate with,
00:01:32.560 and they're great.
00:01:33.540 I love them.
00:01:34.820 And I think...
00:01:35.460 Yeah, see, this woman could have male friends. 0.99
00:01:37.540 I'm not going to say it, but I think she could be capable of having male friends.
00:01:45.480 I gravitate towards men more because, don't hate me, ladies in the audience, 0.99
00:01:50.260 but I just find that the women that I've come across, 0.92
00:01:53.640 they can be quite catty, and I can't do with it.
00:01:56.620 Oh, fine.
00:01:57.040 I just...
00:01:57.760 We love you too, we love you.
00:02:00.240 I don't know.
00:02:01.720 That's a company.
00:02:03.200 Excuse me.
00:02:03.720 I think it didn't mean to you.
00:02:04.740 No, no, no.
00:02:05.340 I don't have any of you lovely ladies. 1.00
00:02:07.100 For example, I'm going on holiday in a few weeks with one of my male friends,
00:02:11.440 and we're going to Barcelona, and we're going to have a sad time.
00:02:14.040 There's nothing going on.
00:02:15.060 There's nothing...
00:02:15.780 This is a street...
00:02:16.580 That's called gaslighting.
00:02:17.920 If she's going on vacation with her friend, yeah, he's going to hit, pretty much.
00:02:23.360 Maybe he's married and she's going to lie.
00:02:26.560 Yeah.
00:02:27.060 He's straight.
00:02:28.220 He's straight.
00:02:28.860 He's not gay. 0.63
00:02:29.540 He's lovely.
00:02:30.100 And we get on, and we're going on holiday, and we're going to have fun.
00:02:33.960 No!
00:02:35.200 No!
00:02:35.760 What if you have a few, and then...
00:02:39.380 I'm not that person.
00:02:40.680 No, man.
00:02:41.000 No, I don't do that.
00:02:42.020 Do you not even think about it sometimes?
00:02:44.960 No, no, no, no, no.
00:02:47.500 Get out the wash. 0.99
00:02:48.840 No, but I find it quite exciting to listen to men
00:02:53.220 and how they have conversations and what they think about.
00:02:55.720 I love all of that.
00:02:57.060 And does this guy have a female partner?
00:02:58.820 He doesn't, but I have got a few friends that do have wives and female partners. 1.00
00:03:03.460 Some of them know I'm their friend, some of them don't,
00:03:06.160 but it's not that for them to not know that I'm not their friend.
00:03:09.080 It's not that sort of relationship.
00:03:10.320 Carol, why are you struggling with this so much?
00:03:13.520 Well, because...
00:03:15.040 I actually had lots of straight male friends when I was younger,
00:03:20.700 and I probably ended up sleeping with every single one of them.
00:03:26.340 God bless honest women. 1.00
00:03:28.240 Do you know what I mean?
00:03:28.940 I mean, not all together.
00:03:37.080 Oh, that's true.
00:03:38.760 I'm not straight away.
00:03:42.360 Sometimes we'd be friends for New Year's,
00:03:44.140 and then, you know, one night...
00:03:45.780 Well, like Harry and Sally.
00:03:47.420 Yeah, there's something bubbling underneath.
00:03:49.040 But it didn't ruin the friendship,
00:03:50.440 and it didn't turn into anything else.
00:03:52.240 Well, a couple of times it did,
00:03:54.000 but, you know, we had a bit of a thing going on.
00:03:57.780 So it's kind of always there somewhere, potentially, for you,
00:04:02.600 but you think...
00:04:03.080 It was for me then, and not now.
00:04:04.860 I don't have any straight male friends now.
00:04:06.900 They're all gay, but apart from Mark, 1.00
00:04:09.860 and, you know, obviously. 0.59
00:04:11.460 Yeah.
00:04:11.880 I don't have to think about that one.
00:04:13.140 Do you think it's changing, Nadia?
00:04:16.700 I do think it's changing.
00:04:18.220 I was actually really old-fashioned.
00:04:20.800 Men and women are friends all the time,
00:04:22.800 but the guy usually wants to hit,
00:04:25.260 or the girl usually wants or will sometimes want to hit. 1.00
00:04:29.440 That's the exception, though.
00:04:31.460 The rule is the guy.
00:04:32.580 The guy's just waiting his turn.
00:04:34.280 He's like, I'm in line.
00:04:35.700 When's my turn?
00:04:36.740 Sometimes it's subconscious, you know?
00:04:38.840 It's just...
00:04:39.840 Did men are, like, programmed to do things for women?
00:04:43.620 Interesting, this question this morning,
00:04:45.460 because when I think back on it,
00:04:46.840 I grew up in a very female-orientated household. 0.84
00:04:50.560 You know, I've got two sisters,
00:04:52.420 lots of aunties in my life, 1.00
00:04:53.980 and I love...
00:04:54.980 My favourite company is other women. 1.00
00:04:56.960 I love talking to other women. 0.91
00:04:58.400 I'm listening to other...
00:04:59.520 Women are just, like, the best thing ever. 1.00
00:05:01.980 And so men, I fancied men,
00:05:03.900 but I didn't really see the point of them beyond that,
00:05:06.800 straight men.
00:05:08.100 I didn't...
00:05:09.020 If I'm being really honest,
00:05:10.280 and I know it sounds sexist, 0.96
00:05:11.860 gay men,
00:05:12.640 I've always had lots of gay male friends,
00:05:15.020 but straight men,
00:05:15.900 I don't know how to talk to them.
00:05:17.720 And I think that was because I was sort of...
00:05:19.940 You know, I went to an all-girls school,
00:05:22.160 so boys where you'd go out
00:05:23.280 and you'd try and be flirty
00:05:24.220 and you'd try and attract boys.
00:05:25.940 And so that was always like...
00:05:27.180 And I didn't want to have sex... 0.88
00:05:29.180 Sorry.
00:05:29.540 I didn't want to sleep with lots of different boys
00:05:31.220 around school holidays.
00:05:31.820 You know, so it was just like,
00:05:33.600 well, what's the point of this?
00:05:35.440 Well, I don't know.
00:05:36.160 What do you observe in your girls? 0.99
00:05:39.000 Well, my girls have proper male friends 0.86
00:05:41.840 and I love it.
00:05:43.380 And I think that's because
00:05:44.640 they've been around men more,
00:05:46.940 so they don't see every boy
00:05:48.180 as whether that's a potential boyfriend.
00:05:50.400 They have really good male friends.
00:05:52.240 Again, more men are starving,
00:05:54.000 so they're willing to be in the friend zone.
00:05:56.820 When men are starving,
00:05:58.480 generally they're just willing to do crazy things.
00:06:01.440 It makes me happy
00:06:03.580 because I think I missed out on that.
00:06:05.040 I really do.
00:06:06.140 I really think I missed out through life and that.
00:06:07.920 Do you think you could have
00:06:08.580 the same kind of friendships with a guy?
00:06:11.420 I mean, let's say that there's nothing
00:06:12.720 intimate involved,
00:06:14.020 but is it the same quality of friendship
00:06:16.640 that you can have with a guy as with a girl?
00:06:18.520 I mean, in some ways,
00:06:19.700 I'm a wee bit disappointed, 0.50
00:06:20.640 not to hear you say that you find women more catty
00:06:22.780 because that's your experience,
00:06:23.940 but it kind of makes me a little bit sad.
00:06:26.120 I think because I'm such an outspoken person,
00:06:30.140 I'm not everybody's cup of tea, female-wise,
00:06:33.160 so I'm a bit loud.
00:06:34.480 But with guys, it's like, you know,
00:06:36.420 I want to find out how you do this,
00:06:38.320 and this is why I think I'm quite a DIY person.
00:06:40.800 I love getting my hands dirty and doing all that.
00:06:42.780 I wonder if that's more because you had a brother
00:06:44.480 and you didn't have a sister.
00:06:45.340 I had a brother and I didn't have a sister,
00:06:46.980 and I was quite tomboyish.
00:06:48.860 I like my trousers.
00:06:50.000 You know, I'm not really a dress person.
00:06:52.140 I'm not really a girl.
00:06:52.760 So am I, though.
00:06:53.660 But I just think men are interesting,
00:06:56.920 and I like their conversation.
00:06:58.440 Men do have way better conversations always.
00:07:02.480 I mean, we definitely get something out of male friendship.
00:07:06.020 I don't think the woman always ends up hooking up with the guy, 0.98
00:07:08.940 but men are way more entertaining.
00:07:11.340 They're more fun.
00:07:14.500 I can totally see why it benefits the female, 1.00
00:07:17.160 but we're not entertaining.
00:07:18.840 We're annoying.
00:07:20.160 We're, you know, we got all this,
00:07:22.060 we get all these problems.
00:07:23.660 So, yeah, there's, if anything,
00:07:26.180 it should be a service that men charge for their friendship.
00:07:29.600 They should start getting money out of the deal.
00:07:31.660 My mouth.
00:07:32.240 As you, do you think it is?
00:07:34.720 Because we don't have time to answer this,
00:07:36.180 but I'm just going to put it out and we'll pick it up another day.
00:07:38.000 Because you were telling us earlier that, you know,
00:07:40.280 as a child, as a girl child,
00:07:41.940 you were kind of been doing domestic stuff,
00:07:43.420 and boys were doing more exciting things.
00:07:45.400 Maybe somewhere in there you think boys have the more exciting time.
00:07:48.600 Yeah.
00:07:49.500 Boys do have more exciting things to do,
00:07:51.540 because they're capable of doing them.
00:07:54.220 I've always said that.
00:07:55.680 Have you ever seen the WNBA?
00:07:57.400 I mean, men's basketball is awesome.
00:07:59.400 They're, like, dunking.
00:08:00.840 They're, like, doing all this cool stuff.
00:08:02.360 And women, we're like, can we make the layup? 1.00
00:08:04.480 No.
00:08:05.460 Please, can we make the layup?
00:08:07.000 No.
00:08:09.320 It just, you know, it's sad, but it's all right.
00:08:11.700 Anyways, guys, like the video on your way out.
00:08:16.480 Subscribe to the channel.
00:08:17.760 Ring that notification bell, and I'll see you next time.
00:08:20.380 Thank you.