Can Men and Women Just be Friends?

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus or so they say. If that’s the case, can men and women really be friends? Only a few questions spark a more passionate debate than this one.

A lot of women prefer keeping male friends rather than female friends, ever wondered why? Could it be because they feel cross-sex friendships are less complicated and come with less drama? I’m sure there are a lot of other reasons women prefer befriending men but here are a few reasons I have noticed.

10 reasons we love male friendships

1. With guys, what you see is what you get

2. Guys are not judgmental

3. Guys tend to be more honest

4. With guys there is no competition

5. Guys give better relationship advice

6. Guys do not hold grudges

7. Guys offer drama free friendships

8. Guys may be more helpful with school and office work

9. You can tell a guy more or less anything.

10. They are not bitchy backstabbing haters!

Please don’t get me wrong. This in no way takes away from the fact that some female friends are extremely supportive and loving. If you happen to have such friends, you really should be grateful! I have a few female close friends who I consider loving and supportive. Nevertheless, I am very mindful because this has not always been the story of my life but that’s story for another day.

At the time I met TY, I had two best friends, Mercy and Rae. People often wondered if there was more to the relationship between Rae and I. They would ask me questions like, “Are you two dating?”, “Do you think he likes you? “Have you two ever thought about getting together?” But no, we were just friends, platonic friends. Why was that too hard to fathom?

After meeting TY, I started seeing less and less of Rae who was also in a relationship and we slowly drifted apart. Rae and I are still friends though, and even with thousands of miles between us, we still keep in touch but of course the sleepovers, the hours of cracking jokes and the heart to hearts do not exist anymore. So in my case, you will find that even though we had a platonic relationship, our relationships with our respective partners silently disagreed with the amount of time we spent together.

What Research Says

You have heard the saying, “men and women can’t be friends because sexual tension always gets in the way” right? Well according to some social psychologists, this saying may just be on to something.

In a study carried out at the University of Wisconsin, 88 pairs of cross-sex friends were asked a series of questions to determine whether they had romantic feelings towards their friends of the opposite sex. Guess what? The researchers found that women generally saw their relationship as strictly platonic while the men usually had romantic feelings for their lady friends.

So Can Men and Women Be Just Friends?

Every person’s situation is different. I think cross-sex friendships tend to get more complicated and confusing for both parties as they get older. Meaning the status of your friendship with the same person when you were in primary school may not be the same as when you both are in university. Some married folks today can testify to that because their marriage started out as a platonic friendship.

If you are married or in a committed relationship, be sensitive to your spouse and be careful with the decisions you make regarding your cross-sex friendships. A lot of people who claim they can never have an affair with their friends when their romantic relationship is going well do not live up to that claim when things get rocky with their partners. It is because of this reason I try to stick to my girlfriends and only hang out with my guy friends while TY is around. But then again, that’s just me.

But come on, let’s be honest, it’s no news that women love attention. I know I do! A lot of us know our guy friends nurse feelings for us, we also know that the feeling isn’t mutual but we keep him around just so he can worship the ground we walk on, take us to the movies, gives us massages whilst the poor guy has a stiffly. Chai! Diariz God o. We know those friends!

What’s your opinion? I’d love to hear from you.