((Obviously there are exceptions as with every other ‘rule’. So, we don’t deal in absolutes here. Please debate in good faith on this subject))

Overwhelmingly, it is modern women who drive the notion that men & women CAN BE strictly platonic “friends”. There are two reasons why this is false:

(1.) Ask women who argue this point a very simple question: ”Ladies - what do men value in a friendship?” I have NEVER heard of any woman giving a based, objective answer to this question. Typically, they roll off abunch of crap that WOMEN value in their friendships. How, on earth, can they possibly be our “friends” without knowing what friends/friendships legitimately mean to us?

((once again - exceptions DO exist))
(2.) Modern women’s view of a male friend is typically a boyfriend or spouse that she doesn’t get physically intimate with: the 3-hr phone calls ‘til 2:00 am, the food/movie dates they never pay for, the shoulder to cry on when her ACTUAL boyfriend upsets her, the “drop everything & come to my rescue”, etc. No commitment, no responsibility, no accountability, etc towards her “friend” —>> So, she gets all the fun stuff w/o investing anything into the relationship or their “mate” (‘friend’). . .