Can Men and Women Just Be Friends?

Yep. It's easier if there's also a certain power dynamic, but I have plenty of male friends. Of course I'm in my thirties, and those friends are as well or older. And we're not each other's types (or they're married/LTR meaning if they wanted "more" it would make them***holes.) If anything as a rule I tend to get on better with men, as I"m a bit pushy with women (I don't do the passive/emotive girly thing well and get very frustrated with women who do.) So it's easier to be friends with a man as I don't feel I have to be the alpha in the situation all the time. (Also men understand things like watching Top Gear or ripping apart competitors or your not-favorite athletes. Women are better for talking books and TV plots and stuff.)

[QUOTE=DoctorLove;279604]Absolutely. Part of this confusion stems from the media (books, films, television). [i]"When Harry Met Sally", "Friends" [/i]& [i]"Cheers" [/i]gave us cultural images that are difficult to overcome. It's little wonder why we expect that men and women are always on the road to romance when almost every time you see a male-female friendship, it eventually turns into romance. There was a study done by a Don O'Meara, Ph.D., at the University of Cincinnatti-Raymond Walters College a few years ago. He started his own research because one of his best friends is a woman. He put it down in his journal called [i]Sex Roles. [/i]Here is what he found out: Platonic love DOES exist. A study of 20 pairs of friends was published published in the [i]Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. [/i]In it, a woman confirmed that "friendship attraction" or a connection completely devoid of lust, is a bona fide type of bond that people experience. However, distinguishing between romantic, sexual, and friendly feelings can be very difficult. In the same study, more than 150 professional men and women what they liked and disliked about their cross-sex friendships. Topping women's list of dislikes: sexual tension. Men, on the other hand, more often replied that sexual attraction was a prime reason for initiating a friendship, and that it could even deepen a friendship. Either way, 62 percent of all subjects reported that sexual tension was present in their cross-sex friendships. Friendship should be a pairing of equals. But, O'Meara said, "in a culture where men have always been more equal than women, male dominance, prestige and power is baggage that both men and women are likely to bring to a relationship." Women are at risk of subconsciously adopting a more submissive role in cross-sex friendships, he said, although that is slowly changing as society begins to treat both genders more equally. Some people believe that society may not be entirely ready for friendships between men and women that have no sexual subtext. People with close friends of the opposite sex are often barraged with nudging, winking and skepticism: "Are you really just friends?" O'Meara said that this is especially true of older adults who grew up when men and women were off-limits to each other until marriage. As the workplace and other social arenas become increasingly open to women, the sexes are mingling more and more. Still, men and women continue to have surprisingly few opportunities to interact.

These obstacles may seem numerous and formidable, but male-female friendship is becoming not only a possibility but also a necessity. If men and women are to work, play and coexist in modern society, IMHO men and women must learn to understand and communicate with each other. The field of research is still in its infancy, but I think that people are now beginning to understand some basic truths about male-female friendship.[/QUOTE] This study is suspect. The barriers to pure friendship between men and women are not societal; they are biological. Men are simply not made to be just friends with women. The man always wants more but us afraid of rejection.

[QUOTE=J_Aeon;279564]yes men and women can be JUST friends there's gonna be a few times that you have friends that are just friends and not going anywhere else.[/QUOTE] but the man always wants more