Something on TV made me think of siblings.  Sisters in particular.

For those who don't know, I have one brother, two years younger than myself.  That's all.

So, I saw a preview for "The Other Boleyn Girl".  I'm not sure if you Englishfolk have seen advertisements for this.  If you haven't, it seems like the basic premise (based on a book) is that the sister of  Anne Boleyn, who eventually marries Henry the VIII, who loves the king or some such romantical nonsense. 

I thank my lucky stars that I don't have a sister.  Women who have sisters always complain about them, love them or not.  Really.  I've listened to more than one woman tell me about how much she dislikes her sister for one reason or another.  Woman think their sisters are promiscuous, or snotty, or dumb, or vapid, or ugly, or whatever else. 

Men with brothers are somewhat of an anomaly for me.  There's clearly competition, but not in the malicious way that you see between sisters.  Honestly, brothers seem to be extremely close, but there is a male comradery between them.  They're close in a way that only men can be close (without being all girly).

Women with brothers (and vice versa) don't do this.  I mean, you hear the general sibling banter, they make fun of one another, pick on each other, but generally don't really spit venom at one another.  The  rivalry you seen between same sex siblings doesn't exists between opposite sex siblings.    Not only does is avoid particular types of competition, but it seems like women with brothers and men with sisters do better with people of the opposite sex.  It makes sense.

Obviously, this doesn't apply to siblings that are 10 years apart.  It's not really an issue if you're 20 and your 10 year old sister is thinking about wearing make-up.  But, when your sister is only a year or two older than you and dating someone, it then becomes an issue.

I'm glad I have a brother.  And, actually, I'm glad I'm dating someone with a brother (not a sister).