After watching the youtube video created by college students titled “Why Men and Women Can’t be Friends”, I came to the conclusion that men and women can, in fact, be just friends. The evidence people use to support the claim that they can’t be friends actually helps support the claim that they can. Their evidence is purely based off of the fact that men and women are attracted to each other.

There is an obvious, unavoidable attraction to people of the opposite sex, given that they are heterosexual, when they meet and get to know each other. Some scientists believe that there are certain human characteristics that cause the primitive brain to cause the body to become sexually arouse. The book Human Sexuality used for the Biology of Sex and Gender class on campus provides evidence for this claim.  In the case of the male primitive brain, it is attracted large breasts, small waist, and large hips. Bodies like this show the male that the woman is fertile. For the female primitive brain, it is attracted to large-chested strong men during ovulation and sensitive, caring looking guys at other times. These reactions to the opposite sex, as a heterosexual, are subconscious and cannot be controlled by a person’s conscience.

On top of that, at Whitworth, many people are looking for someone that they could potentially spend their lives with. Everyone knows the little three “ring by spring” goal. Because of this, many times when students meet someone new of the opposite sex and spend time with them, they usually expect it to go somewhere.

Although it appears that I am supporting the case that men and women can’t be friends, I believe that the evidence from that argument supports my own. The facts mentioned above are purely attraction. It takes more than attraction to be with someone. In most cases, people overcome the awkward “I think I like you” phase and move on to a great friendship with that person.

I personally have a lot of close guy friends, one of which I treat as if he were just one of the girls. I fully believe that men and women can be just friends; however, I must end with this. Just because I am saying that men and women can be just friends, I am not saying that friends can’t move on to more than that.

Contact Jasmine Barnes at [email protected]