Oh god yes.
Interactions with men tend to be a lot more straightforward for me. I'm obviously biased, but I think Chris would've done a lot better with interactions with men because there isn't any subtlety. Chris is terrible with subtlety. We can show Chris pictures of a dozen different girls and tell him they're all the same girl because of this problem.
The guys in high school were probably straight to the point with Chris (of course, there were some bullies too). But that gave him prickly wicklies. On the other hand, the galpals he sat with at lunch pretended to like him. That made him feel good back then. But now Chris is 32 and has zero social skills. When Barb broke the news to Chris that his galpals weren't his real friends, it destroyed his world and he immediately jumped to trying to get them to be his friends again.
You know, I can't help but think Chris would have benefitted from high school much more if he did interact with other men. Hell, he wouldn't have even had to have
liked them, but he would have been much more likely to find people with common interests. You know, vidya, CCGs, and all that. Granted, Chris' interests tended to be a little childish even back then; he was more interested in Sonic than say Call of Duty or FFX, and more interested in Pokemon than Magic: the Gathering. Granted, he would be hanging out with nerdy kids anyway, but that still would have good for him.
You really can't deny that social skills have to be learned, and they're invaluable later in life. Sure, some people are naturally more outgoing, or even intuitive, picking up on social cues that autistic children like Chris would have a hard time with, but I have no doubt that Chris could have learned such skills even if he would have needed to actively work on it. If nothing else, it would have done wonders for his overly inflated sense of entitlement. Chris seriously would have benefitted from someone telling him 'no' once in a while. Especially coming from his (supposed) peers. It would've made him a better human being.
More to the point, talking and hanging out with guys would have also taught him what is (and isn't) appropriate. It probably would have prevented him from drinking his own navy, let alone recording it and sharing it with the trolls. Or telling the world about his
. And, as an added bonus, he would have at least been able to vent about his lovequest, maybe even get advice on how to talk to women. Like I said, it's a pity he didn't get that sort of socialization early on. I'm not saying he'd be some sort of charming, well-spoken individual, but at least he'd be better off than the mess he's in now...
Like, not Lucas and Mimms or whoever, but people he actually had over to his house and could form some sort of real bond with. Ironically, I'm sure a big part of the reason Chris hates men is because guys tend to be more direct in telling you when you're pissing them off or doing something stupid. But that's exactly what he desperately needs: someone to tell him, "Hey, Chris, don't do XYZ."
for company today.
