This question lingers. Can men and women truly maintain a real friendship?

I think so.

IMO it has more to do with your relationship with sex than with having friends of the opposite sex.

The more comfortable you are with yourself, the more comfortable you can be with others.

Iā€™ve never had issues with one on one relationships and have actually been flattered on those extremely rare occasions when someone of either sex showed any interest in me.

Groups of people are an entirely different issue for me.
 

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I was raised in a family where the males outnumbered females 6-1.
I have always been safely comfortable around males and frankly I
probably trust males more in being honest with me on a personal level.
If a male begins showing signs of any thought other than friendship, it
is my responsibility to set things straight. And I do, I don't play with
others emotions or play games towards either sex.
So I agree, it's up to the people involved.
 
Yes. I was married to friends though it was heart wrenching to divorce we are friendly. Its funny, after that I had 2 friends that for a couple years when they both wanted to be intimate. (not at the same time) so we were, once, and that was it. We remained close friends.

Misa and I have been friends and lived together for about 40 years.
 
JustDave said:
Probably the most well known book that so few people have actually read.
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My husband read the whole darn thing while standing in a book store waiting for me to browse. Some of it was good, but lots of it just didn't apply to me and I didn't like it when Hubs would try to sweep me into someone else's generalizations.

I had a really good male friend in high school but I made the mistake of taking him home and lost him immediately to my brothers. Unlike me they played golf, tennis and poker. He remained a part of our family all his life.

My best friend right now is a man from my book club, a retired English teacher. He can't drive these days so I take him to book club and then to lunch afterward where we continue to analyze the poor book to death. My husband is happy to miss all that.
MACKTEXAS said:
There is a woman right now at church I would like to take out to dinner. I haven't asked her. I think she would say yes, but if the answer was no, seeing her each Sunday would then be uncomfortable, so I don't know what I want to do yet.
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Oh ask her Mack! If she says no, the awkwardness will only last through the next church service or two. Unless everybody decides to add her to "prayer concerns" for being so silly.
 
LadyEmeraude said:
Perhaps a complex topic with differing views.
Can males and females just be friends?

I say it all depends on the individuals.
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Love your avatar just as an aside. šŸ˜

Myself personally, I've never had good luck with it. One of us either developed more intimate feelings for the other or the guy would get a g/f and she would get jealous and the communication would come to an end.

I prefer being friends with men more so than women for some reason. Not sure why that is. I just seem to get along better with them IRL. Some men anyway. I wish I could have a male friend just to have dinner with and maybe go do stuff with just for companionship sake and nothing more. It is difficult to find that kind of person to be with though.
 
I've had women friends, women that I work with because that's where I've met most of my friends.

I think this question may be conditional on the assumption that friendships with the opposite sex must be either romantic or somewhere below friendship and closer to the acquaintances. I think all levels of relationship are possible, but it is a thought provoking question, just judging by the responses.
 
Here's another thought related to this issue. Do men and women have a resistance to opposite sex friendships, because they may lead to some unwanted but deeper relationship?
 
MACKTEXAS said:
There were more women than men where I worked, so it wasn't awkward to be a friend with a co-worker. I'm still in touch with some of them - infrequently, but we do talk - mostly on our birthdays or around Christmas.

There is a woman right now at church I would like to take out to dinner. I haven't asked her. I think she would say yes, but if the answer was no, seeing her each Sunday would then be uncomfortable, so I don't know what I want to do yet.
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@MACKTEXAS If you decide you do want to, I wonder if a coffee invitation would seem less date-like than dinner and, if you just get friendship vibes, it won't be so awkward to just leave it at that?
 
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