Friends with benefits

[pne]

Could someone explain the concept of "friend-with-benefits" to me, please? I'm a bit hazy on what it's supposed to be, or how it's distinct from "friend" or "partner".

Comments

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

It's a friend who you'll fool around with when the mood strikes, but don't feel any deep-love feelings for, or have any sort of monogamous relationship with.

[jpallan.livejournal.com]

A friend you have sex with.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Would that be what Chris is for you, for example?

Where's the boundary between "fwb" and, say, "partner" or "romantic partner" or "Lebensgefährte" (a German word that LEO translates as "common law spouse, [longtime] companion, partner, significant other" and is basically "someone you live with and are committed to but are not legally married to")?

[supersat.livejournal.com]

Friends with benefits aren't people you're romantically involved. They're friends, but not boyfriends/girlfriends/significant others. There's no commitment or romantic feelings.

[asciident]

Let me break it down more:

You're friends with the person, and you don't have any emotional romantic attachment. There is no view that you're "dating", that you're partnered, etc. You're just friends who are fooling around sexually when the mood strikes. No strings attached. You are definitely not living together the way Chris and Jess are (you could be roommates, but that's another messy kettle of fish). Jess and Chris are in a committed long-term relationship; theirs is totally different from friends with benefits.

[asciident]

See also: http://friends-with-benefits.urbanup.com/225256

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

Pretty much everyone I know just calls them f*ckfriends.
They're a friend, you just happen to occasionally sleep with them if you're bored or horny.

(aplogoes for the crudeness of this comment)

[jc.livejournal.com]

I thought the term was "fuck buddy"?

I love this journal.

[pne.livejournal.com]

That's a term I had heard before, too. Not sure whether it's the same thing, though.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as for

I love this journal.

I didn't even know that you read it! I'm happy you like it, though :) I sometimes wonder what most readers think about it, since I'm not sure one could characterise its contents easily; I tend to post whatever comes to my mind.

Can you tell me what it is you like about it particularly?

[jc.livejournal.com]

I read (or at the very least skim) every single entry of every journal on my friends list.

Yours I particularly like because of the voyages of linguistic (and recently parental) discovery you often go on. This entry: case in point. ;)

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

heard 'buddy' before, but 'friends' is the more common term here.