I say each to their own. There's no formula or one-size-fits-all approach to Life. Balance means something different to each individual. As does love and peace, success, or happiness. I cannot determine what balance means for others just as they cannot determine that for me. We each find our own balance in life. If someone wants only male friends, that's their right and we should respect their boundaries. If someone wants only female friends, same. Or any combination of the two. I also think it's a good idea not to make assumptions or attempt to psychoanalyze women who prefer male friends. Sounds like Romantic Rose and I each click better with male friends but we are also unique women with our own ideas, experiences, and preferences. I know some women who would never go out alone. I go out alone to the theater or for dinner etc on a regular basis. Some women aren't comfortable on a eve out without their partner or two or three female friends next to them. That is different from how I live but different doesn't equal wrong.

As far as Ennie's situation goes (without having more info) some people accept us and some don't and that's okay. If there's a professional situation with the person, then there are strategies to work around the disconnect and maintain a civil work rapport. If she's not a colleague and purely someone from a social situation, I would just leave her be and inwardly wish her peace. Perhaps she doesn't want a female friend or perhaps it's an unknown factor. I'm not sure that matters but Ennie, feel free to jump in with more particulars if you'd like to.

In society, what I see is a more open view of a man's role and preferences in life. Women often have reductive and unrealistic limitations imposed on them. As a woman myself, I make it a point to support women who have all sorts of different preferences in their lives....without explanation or justification.

Wouldn't it be a very dull world if every woman in it made exactly the same choices in LIfe?