One of the guys (idea)

This friend of mine, who is female, told me recently that she often receives the compliment: "you're just like one of the guys!" (Note: she called it a compliment, not me). It made me ponder for a brief moment, and here is my theory.

For some people (not all), personhood is defined by their own experiences. That is, they don't really perceive other people as people, at least not at first. The point at which they begin to realize that the person they've been talking to for the last two hours is actually a living, thinking, breathing, feeling human being is when that person can be defined by their own experiences. To wit, they see something of themself in the other person. And they formulate something along the lines of the following logic argument (which would have Aristotle doing 45RPMs in his grave):

H1. I have had experience X and I am a living, thinking, feeling human being.

H2. This person has also had experience X.

C. Therefore, this person is a living, thinking, feeling human being.

So my thinking is that when this particular friend of mine gets: "you're just like one of the guys!" from a guy friend, what he actually means is: "hey, I've just realized that you are an entirely seperate entity from myself that is also sentient! Congratulations!"

Of course, to quote Dennis Miller, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.