Can women and men be close friends?‏

this is an article written by a female.  what do you think?



My fella says no, (especially now that we're no longer "friends").
My dad has always said no. My brothers back him on that.

But all these men would have liked to see me single and
living in a nunnery until I was 25 and getting married,
 and I can hardly take
their word as gospel.

So I sent the question into cyberspace and, since
everyone ponders this question every once in a
while, enough responses came in to totally muddle
 and confuse what one girl called this "difficult
and unanswerable query."

From the "Yes" side, the female responses:


"I really think that men and women can be only
"friends" when one or both are attached. If both
 are single the thought "we're both single, we're
such good friends, why aren't we together" will always
 be there."

"I think that it is possible if they grew up together
and think  of each other as brother and sister. Or
if one or both are gay  and neither is attracted
to the other."

"Women and men can be friends, but that can be a
bad thing. A couple,  usually married, lose
romantic interest in the other and become ...\
companions. Comfortable, but the spark is missing."

"Yes - as long as there's no sex involved."

"Women can consider a guy a friend but I don't
think it works the same from the guy's perspective.
 I think there's an attraction on
his end (even if it's a mild one)!"

"It is possible to be friends after an "encounter"
is out of their  systems."

The male responses:


"Yes. I believe it's called homosexuality."

"Yes. But only if both parties are single. As
a single man, I had  loads of female friends."

"Only with the uggers (ugly ones)."

"Sure you can when you're 25 and single, but when
you're older and married, don't make a big thing
about it around your spouse."

"So long as neither is physically attracted to
the other. Because of the way men are, they respect
 a woman more if she doesn't sleep with  them. Watch
what happens when a man and woman are friends and then
have sex. The man feels uncomfortable around her and so
distances  himself from that friendship."

The "No" side from the female perspective:


"If the guy is your ex-boyfriend whom you dated for five months,
talked to about moving in with and having kids, broke up and got
back together with 300 times, it is better never to be friends
again and give up the idea of being friends."

"There's always some sort of sexual tension. Usually one-sided
affections inevitably come to the forefront."

"Men and women can be acquaintances. The end result of a man and
a women developing a friendship will always be sexual."
And the male perspective: Ironically, other than my boyfriend and
male relatives, every other man thinks it's possible to be friends.
Hmm, interesting ...