Can Men and Women Just "Be Friends"?

I know this was a topic that I studied about a month ago in my Interpersonal Communications class but I was watching a report on WCCO Channel 4 News on Monday evening about men and women being "just friends". It left me wondering: Can they? Can men and women be "just friends." The only question I'm asking is: Why not?

In today's society, we've concluded that if we see people (who are in a committed relationship) hanging out with members of the opposite sex, it qualifies as cheating on their spouse. However, I don't believe that. I believe that is there is trust and honesty in the relationship, we should be able to be friends with whoever we want. While I understand the fact that jealousy may play a roll in outside relationships, it's also a good thing to have good friends that are members of the opposite sex.

When I was in a relationship with an ex-girlfriend, it was one of the hardest transitions in life I've ever been through. I didn't know anything about women or how they function (like I'll ever know the full story). However, I had a good friend (who was a girl) who was giving me some assistance on what I should do in any particular situation. While it did help, it made my ex a little jealous. That was not my intention. It blew up beyond proportion and couldn't resolve the conflict so we broke it off. But I still maintain my friendship with my friend.

Personally, I believe that having a good friend of the opposite sex is a good thing mainly becuase you get that feedback from someone who is the opposite sex and isn't the person you're with. As I said, as long as there's trust and honesty with the person you're with, there shouldn't be any problem maintaining friendships with the opposite sex.

Links:

http://wcco.com/specialreports/friends.opposite.sex.2.995911.html