Hi Sunny. I'm a bit torn on this one but here's my take Men and women can be friends and good freinds BUT I feel it can be difficult to sustain that long term if people are single
Here's my thinking and I don't claim to be that intelligent
When we M , we have a partner that most of us trust , care deeply for and expect the R to be a two way street. If a partner is tempted or drawn to someone else , the hope would be that the bond created by the M would be strong enough to keep the attraction to someone else a simple thought that would be dismissed as soon as it arose
When single , people have no emtional ties elsewhere and a bond can develop uninterrupted and an R can flourish It might not even be a great love but situations develop and a friend ( opposite sex ) can be there and feelings can grow leading to more
In a lot of our Rs on here , the WAS didn't go to nightclubs or online dating looking for someone new , more that circumstances put someone in that position and the M wasn't strong enough to stop them. I'm generalising here and I do appreciate that but even in my own sitch WW wasn't the type to even get too friendly with men because she always felt it gave off the wrong signals to the men
I on the other hand flirt a lot but I always attempt to make the flirting so outrageous that no offence can be taken and to that end would never flirt in a situation where it might be mis understood.
When I was younger I had a friend who's sister was a model , my friend ( also. very good looking ) and his sister were adopted into a family of 3 other kids and while they weren't abused they were treated as second class citizens throughout their childhood and both had issues due to it
Steph ( the sister ) had been dating a good few of my friends over the years and she and I became very close. After one R with a close friend of mine ended Steph needed somewhere to stay and she moved in with me for a few weeks I considered her to be like a sister but after a few weeks I felt the dynamic change and so did she. One evening she acted on it and I stopped it going any further because I felt I was stepping over a line that we couldn't come back from We remained friends but never the same and loss touch after about a year
I suppose my point is friendships between men and women always have potential for more where friendship between same sex might not
Again , just my simplistic view and I recently struck up an online friendship with a very attractive blonde lady that's already getting a bit hot and heavy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (((. Hope your smiling ))))
