Can girls and guys just be friends?

I believe to be friends with the opposite sex, there has to be some sort of attraction. This could either be physical and even internal.  If you were to ask what you thought your your opposite sex best friends features were, you would probably come up with a big-list. According to a study that was done by Harvard University, “88 pairs of opposite sex best friends were surveyed and showed that the males in the friendship were more attracted to the female, counterparts, rather than the other way around”.  This however, makes it very difficult for the relationship to be entirely “platonic”.

Boy best friends are expected to take more of a “brotherly” role, while girl best friends are expected to serve as a “primary wingmen”. This can clash and ruin the friendship.

I wanted to see the comparison of a girl versus boy perspective on this topic. I asked Fallyn Gentry (10) about what she thought about this topic. She replied with, “I’ve been best friends with some boys, but I see them in more of a brotherly way than I’d see them as anything else”.

I then interviewed Daniel Heiss (12) and he said, ” I believe they can be friends because you can have girls that are friends. It’s not like you have to like them in order to be friends”. This I found interesting because most the guys I know are in some way attracted to their female friends.