Can Men and Women Have Platonic Friendships?

[phoenix:\\]

Update: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/opinion/sunday/a-man-a-woman-just-friends.html

The article/opinion column seemed appropriate for this thread.

I really think reading an article on what you already know to be redundant kind of. Can a woman and man be friend? Yes, I happen to have a few pretty girls I am simply friends with and have no want to be in a relationship or have sexual intercourse with. So, really, I think it is a bit inane to believe it to be impossible or relatively "hard" to not be friends with a woman based on the commonly thought and debated point of view that men and women cannot simply coexist as friends.

 

[Astronuc]

Some others have asked the same question.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2012/06/17/155197529/can-men-and-women-be-friends

If the question is can men and women just be friends: Women generally said yes, men generally said no.

Men apparently also often mistakenly think their female friend is attracted to him.

 

[turbo]

Why should a male be willing to give up on this question? I have a female neighbor that is quite willing to willing to concede here, and to open up questioning WRT to her dogs. We need to be willing to be be nice to one another.