Can Men and Women just be “friends”?

One of you lovely people here on SW brought up an interesting point..

Is it possible for men and women to just be friends? Or Is there always that chance that one of them might fall in love with the other?

I’m curious to hear some personal experiences or opinions 😅

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DunningKruger · 61-69, M

Yes, men and women can be just friends. But also, yes, there is always the possibility of one of them catching the feels. This can ruin the friendship, but it might simply be part of the friendship, or it could evolve into a wonderful relationship. It's complicated.

One of the reasons I had such bad luck in relationships when I was younger was because I sort of needed to know someone really well, as a friend, before I developed romantic feelings for her, and usually by then, she had already filed me away in the friend zone. Then a female friend of mine informed me that most women determine within a few minutes of meeting someone whether he's a candidate for being more than friends, and I realized I'd been doing things wrong all along (not that that wasn't pretty obvious).

Honestly, the most successful relationships I've had have been with women who decided for some reason that I was the guy and were going to make sure I was in on it no matter what, sometimes without me even realizing what was going on.

So, it's complicated.