We could never be friends: Representing cross-sex friendship on celebrity gossip web sites.

Abstract

Can men and women be "just friends?" Existing scholarship on cross-sex friendship in the field of psychology is mixed, with some literature suggesting that men and women cannot be friends and other literature suggesting that they can. Media representations of cross-sex friendships often reference the homosocial norm, which contends that members of the same sex prefer to spend time with one another and implies that relationships between members of the other sex are necessarily sexual (Rose, 1985). Despite this, few studies have examined the nature of cross-sex relationships in the popular media. This study examines the textual features of 391 cross-sex narratives appearing on three popular celebrity Web sites (TMZ, PerezHilton, and Celebuzz) between January and June 2012. Two hundred eleven (59%) of the stories sampled contained either speculation or a rebuttal of speculation about whether or not 2 individuals were romantically involved, with particular attention given to relationships between coworkers and ex-lovers. One hundred twenty-nine (33%) of the stories featured feuds, antagonism, and/or stalking and abuse engaged in by members of the other sex. These findings suggest that celebrity Web sites reinforce the homosocial norm by continually presenting cross-sex relationships as either romantic or antagonistic in nature.