Can men and women be friends? This is such an age old question and has popped up in so many conversation's I've been having lately. I am a 31 year old married, successful woman. I have male coworkers and acquaintances that I speak with every single day. Yet, I feel like there is still an active dialog about whether or not real, true friendship can occur.
If you ask my husband this question, the answer is no.
Me: "Mr. M, can a man and a woman be friends? Like, real friends? Best friends?"
Mr. M: "Trust me. No man wants to be just your friend. They just don't."
Me: "Hmph"
When I was young, I had many male friends. These were guys that I didn't want a romantic relationship with at all and they didn't want relationships with me. As I got older, married and pushed ahead in my career; almost all of these old relationships dwindled away. Poof. Gone.
Why, I wondered. Why wouldn't a man come to love and appreciate my hilarious sense of humor and charming wit in a friendly way. It is my wrinkles? My diamond ring? My trendy new bob haircut?
Sex. Sex is why.
But..does sex really always get in the way, though? Really?
When I was writing this post I came across a really interesting article published in the New York Times. The author spoke about popular culture fueling the male and female friendship fire. This article was written two years ago. As I racked my brain to think of a television show or movie that successfully demonstrated male and female platonic friendship - I couldn't!
In fact, my favorite shows are the ones that have an epic-ally wonderful friendship that turns into love. Who doesn't want to see Mindy and Danny together? We live in such a progressive society. It simply surprises me that friends between the sexes is still something that isn't really prevalent. What are your thoughts? Can men and women be close friends? Will sex always get in the way?
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