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Just friends? I don’t buy it. | Source: ShutterStock
This is a proud day because science has finally proven me right. Finally! Finally. I have always said that men and women can’t be just friends without at least one person crushing on the other person, and now new research has backed me up. It’s pretty much official, girls: researchers have stated that guys and gals can’t be simply friends without the opportunity for “romance” hanging out and waiting in the corner.
I know plenty of people are going to disagree with both me and these researchers on this. I’m sure there are tons of you who have guy friends who you would never dream of hooking up with or dating officially. But let’s face it, do you really know how they honestly feel about you? Because here’s the thing: as I’ve always suspected, men think about opposite-sex friendships much differently than women do.
This study looked at 88 pairs of opposite-sex friends and discovered that the majority of men were attracted to their female friends. The majority of men believed that their female friends were attracted to them also – but those guys were wrong. It turns out that majority of women were not attracted to their male friends and also had no idea that their male friends were attracted to them.
I’m not saying that I don’t think men and women can be friends at all. I do! I just think that in these friendships, one person is always going to have more than platonic feelings for the other person. Maybe your guy friend secretly thinks you’re hot and sort of wants to get in your pants. Maybe if the opportunity presented itself, he would take the chance of full on dating you.
Why do I feel this way? I’ve seen the evidence way too many times, and I’ve also discussed this with plenty of dudes who have agreed with me. Most guys I talk to about it say basically the same thing: they would date and/or hook up with any of their female friends if given the chance. Even our resident guy expert Ethan pretty much agrees! Do you know how many times I’ve heard dudes say that it’s not possible for girls to be friend-zoned because their friend would always be willing to try to take things to another level?
It’s also happened to me on numerous occasions. When I used to waitress, I was friends with most of the guys that I worked with. At work, we joked around and also talked about more serious stuff; after work, we hung out together with everyone else and had a good time. I had zero romantic interest in most of these guys. Almost all of them ended up hitting on me at one point or another. It was super disappointing, because I really wanted to believe that we could be just friends without having any awkward romantic situations going on. And I’m not trying to sound cocky, like it only happens to me – no, I’ve watched it happen to all of my girl friends at one point or another.
So what’s the definitive answer on this? Based on this research, it seems like guys are more likely than women to have romantic feelings for their opposite-sex friend. And while they might not come right out and say that they have a crush or that they would be willing to hook up, they would take things to that level if they had the chance.
But keep in mind that this research was only done on a small group of people. This doesn’t mean that every single guy out there thinks his female friend is hot. It doesn’t mean that there is no girl ever who feels friend-zoned by a guy. Still, I find myself pretty convinced: unless someone can prove otherwise, I truly don’t think guys and girls can be just friends without one of them sort of crushing on the other person.
What do you think – can guys and girls be just friends? Have you ever been in a totally platonic friendship with a guy? Do you agree or disagree with this study? Have you ever been friend-zoned? Tell me in the comments.
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If youre not close friends, there doesnt have to be attraction, but if you are then i think probably there is at least a little. doesnt mean he’d ever act on his feelings though. i read something that is more or less true: there are 3 reasons why a guy would befriend you; 1. he likes/is attracted to you. 2. you have mutual friends, or a friend is dating a friend, or something of the sort. 3. you use to date and have gotten over it. not always true, theres exceptions to everything, but its surprising how much this applies!
Okay, this is totally untrue and I’m disappointed that the author of this article thinks it is.
Just because you haven’t experienced something does not mean it doesn’t exist. My best friend is a guy and things are going fine between us. He probably finds me somewhat attractive, and we’ve addressed that issue and moved on. We’re like brother and sister. Hooking up would be awkward and we’ve discussed that already. People who say guys and girls can’t be friends obviously is not mature enough to handle that kind of a friendship.
Umm… she covered that. And that’s exactly what she said. Fact of the matter is that you already discussed the situation (he finding you attractive) and friend-zoned him. You’re like brother and sister now, but at one time, he didn’t see you that way. She’s not saying you CAN’T be friends with a guy because of these possible feelings, the study and she are saying that it’s possible the guy (or girl) can be friends, but one will have more of an attraction to the other until the sentiment is either nipped in the bud or acted upon positively. Get cho life, hun.
Or in an equation:
Guy+Girl= Possible Friendship/Soulmate/Fling
(Guy+Girl)Friendzoned=Friendship
I actually believe the study becoz i’m actually bffs with a guy and it so happens that I like him! Yep but that means that my other guy friends that i dont like actually have crushes on me? eewww??
I agree. I have a close friend in 5th grade and he admitted he has a crush on me so I started distancing myself from him, it’s kinda embarrassing you know. Then in 9th grade I have best guy friend, we’ve been just friends just that year and we got really close, one day he asked me to go to school with him to get his yearbook. I agreed and decided to ask his ex-gf to come with us to surprise him. After we went to the school we went to the mall, after a while his ex left so it’s just me and him. He took me to 7-11 to wait for my ride and he said goodbye. That night his ex told me that my friend asked me to go with him because he wants to be alone with me, then my friend texted me that he likes me. We’re still friends even though I know he likes me, now that 2 years had passed we’re still friends and still contacts me. I just don’t know who he likes now because whenever I ask him who he likes he kept on saying he’s enjoying his “bachelor” life.
What a stupid study. i can’t believe they actually found an investor and everything.
I had a lot of guy friends and one of them I pretty liked me a little more than a friend because he always tried to make me laugh. Then When I was in 4th grade one of my friends actually asked me out but I think that was a dare idk. But I have plenty of other guy friends who I’m sure have no romantic feelings for me so it could go either way
This is why having gay guy friends is great, and I don’t mean you should go out and hunt down a gay guy to become your friend. However, if you happen to know a guy who’s gay and you get along with, they really can be your best guy friends (as long as there isn’t any risk of YOU falling for them, because that’s one you will never have). If you have a male cousin around the same age as you who you get along with, that also helps, since there’s no risk there, either. It’s sad, though, because I usually have a much easier time hanging out with guys and being myself around them than I do girls (probably because I’m not into guys), but there have been too many times where I get to know a guy and think he’s great to hang out with, because we’ve got a lot of the same interests and he seems like a nice person, but eventually I can tell he’s interested in being more than friends. I’ve had to stop hanging out with a few of my friends for this reason, and it makes me sad.
I don’t think you should stop hanging out with guys that like you a little me just because of that. That’s probably why some guys that are your bestfriends won’t come out and tell you or there best girl friend that they like the. Because they think it’ll ruin there friendship with you
Yeah you’re right! When the guy becomes really nice all of a sudden, it means he’s interested in taking it to the next level, not because he really takes you as his close friend or “sister”
That means my crush probably is attracted to his friend who is a girl… Isin’t that typical?
Not necessarily, lol! Maybe she likes him!