A woman’s best friend is a diamond and a man’s best friend is a dog, but can a man and a woman be each other’s best friends? To further complicate the question, can a man and a woman really JUST be friends?
There are different categories of friends of course, and let’s not confuse what a real friend is with the Facebook definition of “friend”. You have closer friends and acquaintances.
A close friendship involves two people who can openly discuss personal issues. An acquaintance would be somebody who is not as involved in your personal life but whom you deal with on and off. We have many acquaintances. We have very few close friends.
So we examine the issue a little more closely here on The Man Cave. Jesus and Frankie are two friends with two opposing views on the subject. One fights the “friend role” with his female friends, while the other foresees attraction and cuts things off sooner than later.
Click on their photo to read more on their point of view, then come back and tell us who you agree with or if you have a different view all together.
Slippers & Vino 
Goooo Frankie! Just read Jesus posts, and have a question, some people say the best relationships come from friendships.. isn’t it true? Also to Jesus, it may not be a front but sometimes getting to know someone can seal the deal in whether you really like them or not..
Hey Lulu thanks for reading and thanks for the question. It works differently for everybody but I think it’s a bonus. It’s a good way to get to know the person and like you said, get to see if you actually see if things workout on another level.
So, what if your friend is of the opposite sex and then you get married? Will your wife/husband understand your relationship?
I would introduce my wife to all my close female friends from the beginning of the beginning that way you avoid any issues while being married. These people have been a part of your life way before this person you are now marrying came into the picture. So your other half should be understanding.
I hope, that means he/she trust you. There is nothing wrong with knowing someone from the opposite sex and speaking to them from time to time. But I’m sure if you start to spend too much time with or talking often with a “friend” from the opposite sex your spouse will start to question your relationship.
Never have I ever seen a 100% plutonic relashionship between a man and a woman. The only time that a guy will ever JUST be friends with a girl (and vise versa) is if that person is a family member (those are usually off limits North of South Carolina), a friend of the person you are involved with or interested in (we always want to get in good with the people our significant others will complain to), or a co-worker (but that’s not really a friendship is it? If you take it outside of the office more than is necessary, you probably want more than just help getting the copy machine to work).
The only reasons that two people of the opposite sex would make any kind of investment into a relationship with one another are rooted (at least at first) in a romantic interest except for the exceptions I previously laid out.
To quote one of the greatest explorations of this issue on film: “[N]o man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive… Yes, that’s right, they can’t be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can… This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted… That doesn’t work either, because what happens then is, the person you’re involved with can’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you’re just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say ‘No, no, no, no, it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,’ the person you’re involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which …you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let’s face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can’t be friends.” – Billy Crystal in Rob Reiner’s “When Harry Met Sally”