When you listen to song lyrics, watch movies, read books, or discuss the topic with pals, you tend to hear one main opinion, which can be summed up with a quote from Harry from Harry Met Sally: “Men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.”
Discover our latest podcast
Is Harry right? Oliver Markus seems to agree. He writes in Why Men And Women Can’t Be Friends, “Men pretend to be “just a friend” at first, even though they want to sleep with you from day one. Otherwise they wouldn't be spending any time, money or attention on you, because these are limited resources and they need these resources to attract a mate.”
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift sings about loving someone who sees her as just a friend: “Oh, I remember you drivin' to my house in the middle of the night/I'm the one who makes you laugh/When you know you're about to cry/And I know your favorite songs/And you tell me about your dreams/I think I know where you belong/I think I know it's with me.”
More often than not, it seems that one member of the seemingly platonic relationship eventually starts to fall for the other. Dave Matthews Bands notes, “A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other…Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever.”
Despite what we see in the movies or listen to in songs, platonic friendships between two members of the opposite sex can definitely happen, and a group of researchers recently conducted an experiment to find out if the friend zone actually exists. What did they find out? Tune into our video to see if you agree with the results!
