When you saw the title you probably thought “He’s going to talk about why my girlfriend keeps bothering me to move in with her” … but I’m not. Actually, this is something else that has come up with me (in the past and possibly in the near future) and with two other friends. I am talkin gabout female roomates. Some person of the opposite sex who lives with you, but on a strictly plutonic level (and pays rent).
Personally, I couldn’t do it too myself. There are maybe two females who I could entertain the thought of living with because we are strictly friends (although there are general character differences that would prevent us from co-habiting). Almost everyone else, I couldn’t do it. If me and that person we chilling at home, both didn’t have no dates or nothing popping off, and we decide to crush a bottle of wine and watch Love & Basketball … something might happen. Then, she may expect something more, or I might expect something more, or someone might feel weird bringing other people around, or maybe she now thinks she doesn’t need to pay rent … and that is messing with my cashflow … a cardinal sin.
Some background: One friend has a townhouse and is thinking of picking up 2 female roomates. The second friend (the real inspiration behind this post) is going to let a gir, who is best described in looks as a Puerto Rican Model, move in with him. He claims she doesn’t look as good as her pictures, but I highly doubt it (he showed me her MySpace page … and man). Plus their friendship hasn’t truly been established, considering the only reason he approached her is becuase she is cute and at our company.
Outside of the obvious chance of something “non landlord-like” occuring, there are other good reasons. Life and experience (really … co-ed dorms in college) has shown me that men and women live in completely different ways. Women tend to be cleaner, usually have better attention to detail, and are often grossed out more often. For example, one year in my apartment someone left a small plastic bag of used (but empty) condoms in the living room. Addditionally, someone else broke a dining room chair by having sex on it. Maybe I’m being sexist … but I think a female wouldn’t have handled those as well as we did.
But all that aside … Men and Women don’t make good friends. That will inherently lead them to make bad roomates, especially if anyone is attracted to anyone. So … Don’t do it!
I think it's possible for men and women to live together if both people are in committed relationships or if the two people who live together are inherently not attracted to each other because of race. For example, i'm a young black female and I usually don't go for Asian men. I'm not racist or anything but Asian men just don't do it for me. So, if I were to live with one and me and him were single, I doubt anything would pop off.
I think its possible for it to happen, just highly improbable. If the two people are just not attracted to each other, then it can be easy. But I think its easy for at least one person to be attracted to the other. If that unequal level of attraction occurs, then there can be problems. If both people are attracted to each other, there can be problems. Thats 3 out of 4 situations that can cause problems.
I will admit though, the self control of others is probably a lot higher than mine (I'm working on it), but people to often engage in carnal pleasures. The stakes in this situation are just noticably higher than most others.