Here’s the thing.
You can cite as many “scientific” studies and personal anecdotes as you want of people having sexual and romantic feelings about another gender (or their own gender). You can then declare they are “proof” that people who are sexually and romantically attracted to a certain gender can’t be friends with that gender.
And all of that would still be complete and utter bullshit.
You can have sexual and romantic feelings. You can have sexual and romantic feelings about people directly in front of you that are your platonic friends. And guess what? You can choose not to act on those sexual and romantic feelings if that would ruin a valued platonic friendship.
It’s like some people think you can’t use your rational mind when it comes to sex and love. As long as you don’t have a mental illness or cognitive impairment that prevents impulse control, you can stop yourself from obsessing and being creepy towards your platonic friends. People that choose to act on their feelings when those feelings are not reciprocated simply suck.
Guess what? Many people fancy their platonic friends romantically and even sexually. And I’d bet you that the vast majority of them choose to direct that energy appropriately towards potential and current lovers and sex partners. Some platonic friends (* Gasp! *) know some of their other platonic friends fancy them and vice versa, can laugh with them about the weirdness of human nature, and all parties can do so without creeping on or harassing each other.
It can be done. And it’s probably done more often than not. People are more capable of being conscientious and ethical than we’re willing to admit, even under the duress of love and desire.
Give people some goddamn credit, for fuck’s sake.
AAAtheist 