I am surprised by some of the responses here. Of course men and women can be friends! I have always had female friends. Two of my best friends are women, and we have been friends for years. Neither party in either friendship is remotely interested in the other on a romantic level. Part of that may be age difference - I am significantly older than both of them - and part may be due to how I was raised - 3 sisters in a family where we were taught that all people are equal and deserving of respect. I have never had a sexual thought about either of those friends, and I am absolutely certain that neither of them has had such a thought about me. One of them considers me to be like a second father, and the other is my drinking buddy with whom I have had very frank conversations. While my best friend is a guy I went to high school with, most of my close friends throughout my life have been women, and a large percentage of those were lesbians. While I have been in love with several women, and I have had sexual thoughts about many women, my female best friends are not in either category.