Why You Should Make It a Boys’ Night

While I was prepping for job interviews in undergrad, stressed beyond coherence, my guy friends’ consistent argument was that I should just land a sugar daddy and stop being such an agist. If that didn’t work out, though, I should somehow support a trophy husband and show the world what feminism was all about.

Truthfully, I would be lost without my guy friends. I actually probably wouldn’t have found my way home from the bar some nights without their assistance, but mostly they help to keep me from taking myself too seriously. I lived with some of my favorite guys senior year of college, and after tearfully moving out, I wondered how I could live without them being just downstairs.

Guys appreciate the little things, like how Frank’s RedHot can make any food palatable. They teach you how to eat wings, and sometimes they grill. They know the best imported beer, and the best cheap beer. They entertain themselves by ragging on each other, guessing the color and style of your underwear, playing video games, and boozing.

They’re great gym buddies or fellow procrastinators. They taught me how to talk sports, and introduced me to new music. Maybe sometimes you don’t want to touch anything in their apartment, but it’s impossible not to love the guys.

Once you’ve found your comfort zone, you can lose the perma-girly facade and (gasp) be yourself, all the time. Rock your sweats and lose the makeup. Play some MarioKart or MonkeyBall. Watch Grandma’s Boy a thousand times. Enjoying yourself without worrying what the guys think is pretty awesome. My boys have seen me at my best and worst… and it eventually became apparent that I was essentially one of them, only with cleavage and better hair.

What they’re not so great at is setting you up with their hot friends. I have been yelling at my pseudo-big-brother about this, and he refuses to do more than put me in the same room as his single friends. Dating a buddy of your guy friends can get messy, particularly if you happen to break up. And don’t be shocked if they get defensive. Just like any other friends, guys don’t want to hear it from both sides. I’ve learned the hard way on this one, and my ex just happened to be one of their favorites (translation: they referred to him by nickname only). If you don’t make a big deal of it, neither will the guys, but expect the ex to come hang out and participate in your Tour de Franzia. They can’t give up their friends just because you did, right?

My girls are irreplacable, but there’s something about the guys that just chills me right out. They’re too lazy to deal with drama, though they can gossip when they want to, and typically are more honest about the stupid things, like “is this cute?” or “do I look clingy if I call again?”

They don’t sugar-coat the obvious, and if our girls would do the same more often, we wouldn’t need to ask them in the first place.