The "Fair" Sex in LotR

[akhtene]

There are undoubtedly people who would agree with Tolkien's view that friendship between man and woman is almost impossible.

Sharon, I find it a stereotype that supports itself. Now, I'll try to explain what I mean. Any single person believes it just because lots of other people do and authorities are appealed to, though they may be expressing their personal views. (No offence ment, Sharon. Thanks for quoting the letter). [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Well, an illustration to that. When a student I was friendly with a guy, without any 'undercurrents'. In summer we were sent to work in a children's camp as part of our training and we spent a lot of time together, even late at night. We were just chatting and listening to music. He played the guitar almost professionally and I helped him with learning English lyrics (as his major was German). And I could never bring this home to my other fellow students, not that I tried really hard. I got my share of knowing glances. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]
Well, there were other experiences, and eventually I married a man with whom I had been just 'friendly' for a couple of years.