Opposites

Is it possible to have a close friend that's of opposite sex with no strings attached?

Is it possible to be close friends with the opposite sex and not let it get in the way of your other relationships?

This topic chosen for this particular blog post is very controversial, this post can be answered with a number of different reasonings. I ask that no one takes offense to anything said in this post, these are simply my opinions and personal experiences and everyone is entitled to their own. There's so many answers to this question that it is impossible to just choose one.

     Personally, I believe that the answer to this question is both yes and no. I've never witnessed a number of strong friendship based upon opposite sex actually workout but I've also witnessed relationships that didn't workout. At the end of the day feelings always get involved. Our generation is just not equipped to see men and women interacting beyond the boundaries of sexual relationships. With men and women mingling in various areas of life that are gender-specific (home, school, work, parties), people of the opposite sex are discovering common ground and more reasons to be friends which eventually leads to other things.

      For this blog post, I actually took the time out to interview my male/female friends,co-workers, and other classmates and asked the proposing question. "Is it possible to have a strong healthy friendship with the opposite sex without having any strings attached"? The women that I spoke to consistently said that it is nearly "difficult to impossible" to have a fulfilling friendship with men because as the friendship grows, men will eventually want to elevate the relationship into a romantic level. Similarly but in much simpler terms, the men that I spoke to said that it's difficult to just be friends with women "When you want to sleep with them". Whose at fault here?

I believe that the single reason why friendship between men and women fail is because of sexual tension. From MY personal experience, I can say that I have a number of male friends because I simply find males more understanding and easier to talk to sometimes without all the drama than my female friends. I have flirted with a few and was hit on by many. Sexual tension is certainly real, impossible to ignore, and can be difficult to negotiate.  Overall, If we cannot control our sexual tension or the sexual tension thrown our way then be prepared to experience challenges in your everyday relationships/friendships throughout life.