How do the friendships between males and females relate to how Persuasion deals with gender overall?

When Anne goes to Lyme and the Musgroves meet with CPT
Wentworth's friends, both males and females met and seem to have found a good sense of
camaraderie. In fact, Anne claims that he could have made friends with all of
them.

This seems to be an indication that Austen used youth and its
carefree qualities to point out how the youths in the story do not hold the social friction nor
establish the foolish boundaries of which Anne is so used to in her typical
life.

It also indicates that youths also enjoy each other's best
attributes in both genders. Notice how in their acquaintance the topics of marital obligation nor
the pressures of society seemed to have played a role in their
conversation.

Therefore, Austen uses friendship between genders as a
way to filter the role of youth and freedom in how people communicate in the
story.