Can Men and Women Really Be Just Friends?

Sure, men and women can be friends. I have gay male friends i'm not attracted to and younger work friends I have no interest in being with because I'm like their older sister helping them navigate the very tricky field of understanding women. Good luck to them lol
My way of thinking is that the platonic dynamic only works if you're in a relationship already or are not ready to go that route...yet. Eventually, one, the other or both want more.

The answer is yes as long as neither one of the friends wants to have sex with the other. I have lots of platonic male friends, but I don't want to have sex with them either. If I have sexual feelings for the guy, I can't be his true friend as in the back of my mind I would be figuring out a way to make him my man lol.

i think men and women can be friends. i dont think i could ever think of a guy friend as anything more. i know most women who date and marry and say that they are in love with their bestfriend but i just cant think that way. i dont want to date marry or sleep with a friend, i want to date marry and sleep with i guy who i see as nothing more than a boyfriend or husband. i think my thinking is different but friend and boyfriend are in two different catergories. friends are in the i would never sleep with them and boyfriends are in i want to sleep with them, i dont want to share my feelings or my sorrows, i just want to sleep with him. so pretty much a boyfriend is for me a person i see only in a sexual way and friends in an emotional way.

Did this whole article miss the whole concept of the girl with a gay guy best friend?

yes men and women can be just friends but you can't put things in my hair.
we will not wear each others cloths. sometimes a female friend can cramp my style, but thats the same for women as well.

This is why married couples tend to socialize with other married couples. It solves the problem and gives a yes to the question.

if the man is attracted to the female, then it is extreamly hard to be just friends..

My best guy friend and I had sex once....and it was horrible for both of us. We're such good friends because we know we have no sexual chemistry. Neither of us wants to get the other in bed, so we never have that tension in our relationship. It can happen, but lots of girls think guys are being "friendly" when the dude wants in her pants.

Yes, I think men and women can be just friends. I have women friends that are just that, I would never think of having sex with them in a million years, there is no attraction at all. Then there are women that I only think of having sex with, that would be the one I would want to marry, the one that I only think of having sex with with no feelings or sorrows. So yes, a girlfriend would be one I only see in a sexual way with no emotions involved.

I think it all depends on the individual. One of my best friends is female, I like being able to ask her for dating advice and then check out her rig that she just put together. You can't say that about many girls.

It all depends on the situation I feel. My ex girlfriend is one of my best friends and no, it's not because I still have feelings for her, not those kind of feelings anyway. I just like having someone who is knowledgeable about girl stuff and even though we didn't work out as a couple we still have fun times.

Probably it is the way I was nurtured, or maybe I am an emotional outlier. Whatever it is, I know for a fact that men and women can be just friends without one person in the friendship laying in wait for an opportunity to have sex with the other.
After reading the entire article and most of these comments; a person who is lacking life experience or exposure to the opposite sex, would deduce that our prime objective as human beings is to engage in intercourse. To believe sex is the only thing that motivates us to interact with the opposite sex on a emotional level, would be imbecilic.

If you cannot have friends of the opposite sex (especially ones that are attractive) without wanting to "sex them up," then you are emotionally stunted and might forever remain that way.
For the record, I am a very sexual person, and I lead a healthy sex life.
I also have a lot of women (single and coupled) who are my friends. Women whom I have never had sex with, nor do I plan on using our friendship as a conduit to something else.
We go out to dinner and catch a movie quite frequently ( just us alone, unchaperoned), and at the end of the night we might end up back at my place, or at theirs', recapping the evening and talking the night away.

Now am I to believe, according to most of the people in the article, that I am an emotional freak. One that is so adept at separating and compartmentalizing his sexual desires, that I am among the few heterosexual men that are capable of having female friends who I view as just friends?

I beg to differ.
I think people that say, "well men and women cannot be just friends, because ....," are actually projecting their emotional shortcomings onto others. To me what they are actually saying is, "well I cannot be friends with a member of the opposite sex (or same sex, depending on your sexuality) because I am so weak, if I expose myself to this person on a regular basis, my undies my fall off and I might do the unthinkable."

So stop projecting YOUR emotional weaknesses onto others, because this might sound alien or even unbelievable, but "MEN AND WOMEN CAN BE JUST FRIENDS."

I don't know, I prefer to have female friends. We can get in heated debates and then turn around and go get our nails done. They're also good for knowledge on how to handle that pesky cramping and bloating once a month. Okay, finished with my tangent, now back to the question. Can men and women be friends? Yes.

yes i think guys and girls can be friends. i dont have many girl friends because i hate the drama. i have many guy friends and when we hang out and party its comfortable. non of us wants to do each other. There are many times when its just me and one other guy. Its not a date. its just two friends hanging out. so yes Guys and girls can be just friends.

No. Billy Crystal had it right. The sex thing is always there.

"most men are attracted to almost every woman "

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Think again. "Most" men are attracted to a small subset of women. A *few* men are attracted to almost every woman.

I'm a straight guy, and I think men and women can be just friends, especially when one or both aren't physically attracted to the other. I've had plenty of female friends. It is tricky or awkward when one likes the other though, whether secretly or both know it.

Sure, I think they can be friends. However, I do think there will always be one party of the relationship who secretly wishes it was more. There will always be a bit of sexual tension.

It's human nature to always want more. Couple this with someone who you find attractive, can trust and confide in and respects you for you as well as has many attributes that you admire...that awkward moment is bound to happen. It's important to be honest with yourself but be considerate of other's feelings simultaneously.

i believe that men and women can be just friends. i have males that i'm close to enough that i consider them brothers. the thought of sleeping with them has never entered my mind. however, i must admit that some of my best relationships have been with men that started out as friends. we went into the relationship with respect for one another already established, so it was an easy transition.