As for the attractiveness of your straight male friends, how does that actually cause relationship difficulties? Presumably you’re not getting into romantic relationships with them?
It is unpleasant to have desires no amount of planning or effort could deliver, and not be able to convince the source of that desire of that desire’s futility without risking something. It is a sad thing to lose a friend by asking them out, and a sadder thing to be in turmoil over when and how.
does it really impair people in a long-term sense?
Does it need to be long-term for it to be a cost?
Were I to explain my intuition about the long-term and broad consequences, I would talk about things like reduced population growth, increased STD prevalence, and possibly decreased social harmony. Talking about something like social harmony is easier to do if you start off with the short-term and small-scale, though.
It is unpleasant to have desires no amount of planning or effort could deliver, and not be able to convince the source of that desire of that desire’s futility without risking something. It is a sad thing to lose a friend by asking them out, and a sadder thing to be in turmoil over when and how.
Does it need to be long-term for it to be a cost?
Were I to explain my intuition about the long-term and broad consequences, I would talk about things like reduced population growth, increased STD prevalence, and possibly decreased social harmony. Talking about something like social harmony is easier to do if you start off with the short-term and small-scale, though.