I have several longstanding female friends with whom there have been no sexual overtones let alone sex itself. They are great people and fun to talk with. I don't threaten their SOs and they don't threaten mine.

I just don't get people who think that men and women cannot have a close relationship without sex being a part.

I am desperate these days for a friend of the opposite sex. I have been at a new job since March and it consists of sitting alone in an office with almost no contact with the outside world except information being fed to me through emails which I then convert into journal entries for the accounting software. I've always had someone to talk to at work including some men friends. At the same time, I'm getting older and feeling lonely since my children are gone. I have women friends. I miss men. I don't want a rendezvous in the coat closet. I don't want an affair or a crush. I want a pal. I want someone I can be honest with about everything. I think men are good for that. I can bounce things off men better. I always had friends of the opposite sex in high school and college. I miss that.

YES!

I have several male friends, I say they are my BFF's, also known as BEEF. LOL we all laugh when I ask "where's the beef", they know who / what I am talking about.

We can talk about everything, we do everything (no sex! don't go there, never even thought about it!). There is nothing like these men.

When I moved here, I made a new male friend. Two years later we are still working on building the relationship. Working out the kinks too. I kinda have a feeling he likes me. So that throws a kinkywnky in it.

Absolutely. a man and a woman can be friends - with or without sexual attraction. But its not for everyone (or more importantly, their partners). I have male friends with whom there is no sexual chemistry. We just get along well. Sometimes these relationships have a brotherly feel to them (I have 3 brothers, but none live near me). They give me honest, straight-shooting advice that my brothers would give me. And, yes, some of these men are gay, but not all...

I have other relationships with men that have a different feel - there is attraction bubbling under the surface. But, we are still friends and behave as friends. Sometimes, the attraction gets discussed, sometimes it doesn't. Its hard to "work out the kinks" (as SpiritedFilly describes) but I believe that it is worth it.

Sadly, the hardest part about nurturing a friendship with someone of the opposite sex is not how the two of you feel - its the rest of the world. Your partners, your friends, your family members - they may question your intentions and actions, because there are many people out there who believe that its not possible.

This has come up before, but I can't seem to find the thread. I think that men and women, married and single need friends. I have male and female friends (again, both married and single). Yes, it is possible for a woman to have male friends and not be sexually involved with them. I feel blessed to have several in my life. My husband knows they are just friends and some of them have become his friends too. Just to complete the picture, he has women friends and I'm fine with that.

I was the first to reply to this post. But, it somehow didn't go through.

I have women friends that go back 48 years (NOT FWB). I have had friends with whom I have had sex. But, time erased them. The ones who remain are the ones with whom there has been no intimate connection (except emotional).

My wife and I are so close, she would "feel" the undercurrent and vice versa.

Hi Doreen,

My best friend at work is a woman 9 years my senior. There is solid mutual attaction, but NO possibility of a sexual relationship between us, but we are drawn to each other like magnets. it's sort of sibling-like, and yet not. She's die-hard liberal and I tend to be conservative (or what I call liberative), so we have our disagreements, but we agree on way more than we disagree on. I learn from her and she learns from me. It's a very cool relationship...we simply click in a major way.

So, yes, women and men CAN be platonic friends.

David