Another Discussion Question

[SeaLover]

So the other day I was hanging out with one of my female friends between classes. We were walking back to the school after getting from frozen yogurt and I ran into one of my classmates. I introduced him to my friend and we continued to catch up. Anyways, the next day he asked me during lab if she was my girlfriend. I just told him that we were just good friends.

So, the discussion question is this.
Why do people assume that when a guy and a girl are hanging out alone that they are dating?
(just something I've been thinking about the past few days)

[WakeUpSusie]

I think it's just a matter of the first assumption of a guy being alone with a girl, and I don't think it really means anything. I would probably assume the same thing! I've gotten that a lot when hanging out with one of my guy friends and it's never bothered me. One time I was out with my boyfriend, his best friend (who is a girl) and his best friend's boyfriend. For whatever reason, people that we met kept assuming that I was with his BFF's guy, and that my boyfriend and his best friend were dating. Probably because none of us are big of PDA, and I was chatting a lot with the boyfriend (we have a lot in common) and my boyfriend was talking with his best friend a lot of course. It was very funny

[HollzHeartsChris]

I'd love to know the answer to that question myself haha. Well, when I was still in my senior year in school, I used to hang around with a guy I'd known for just over 7 years and we were always hanging out and we'd do stuff together. We had a sort of hot and cold friendship: we'd argue loads, but we'd get over it quickly. People always used to assume that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and even the teachers thought we were. It was so embarressing: I used to cringe at first whenever people would make that assumption and I'd get angry, but I'd let it pass. As time went on, I grew to care less and less about what people thought and we still hung out We don't hang out much anymore, we've kinda lost touch since school ended, but it just goes to show how people makes assumptions wayyy too quickly X_X
I wouldn't mind, but when EVERYONE says the same thing....it really starts to get annoying lol

[Sora1101]

Maybe because some people assume that girls only hang out with girls unless they are in a big group of friends, I dunno but from my experience at least it's just easier to ask if you're dating than to ask if you're friends because some people get like "omg why can't you tell we're dating can't you feel the love?" where as if you guess you're dating first it's just like "oh no, we're just really close friends." they tend not to get defensive and huffy about it.

[ClipitsWings]

Maybe they think girls and guys can't be just friends for some reason? Idunno. Considering my best friend is a dude (who has feelings for me /sigh) and my dude's best friend was a girl he dated years ago, I can see why people might think there's often a history of /something/. But honestly, not every pair of people walking down the street is dating, I don't get why they assume those things really.
Fun fact: no one thinks me or my guy are dating our best friends, however, I've been questioned numerous times about being a lesbian with one of my female friends XD

[kteire]

Haha, that exact thing has always bugged me. I tend to have very few female friends and way more close male friends, and so I spend a lot of time one-on-one with guys that aren't my SO. I think it bugs my SO a bit when people assume I'm seeing any of them, although he'd never admit it haha. But it's happened a few times when my SO and I were at a party together, and I was catching up with some of the lads I hadn't seen in a while (and he was off chatting with other people), and a few people there were like, "Are you and Loic not dating anymore?" Cause a guy and a girl can't just be friends... ugh!