I’ve been recovering from a very nasty stomach bug. In between the vomiting, the hallucinations (I ran a high fever for a while), and the wishing for the sweet release of death I had a lot of time to stare at bad TV.
For whatever reason, one of the services I was watching was advertising When Harry Met Sally a LOT. In that movie Billy Crystal’s character famously says “men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way”. This sentiment is mirrored all over TV and movies. One current TV show I’m watching – High Potential on ABC – appears to be hinting at a romantic relationship between the two main characters in spite of one of them just having gotten back together with his ex-girlfriend. From the very popular HBO show The Pitt there is a significant chunk of the fan base hoping for two characters to get together (Dr. Mel and Dr. Langdon) in spite of one of them being married!
This has always bugged me. Why is it so difficult for people to understand and/ or accept a platonic friendship between a man and a woman in their entertainment OR in real life?
I’ve had platonic relationships with men all my life. I don’t think that makes me weird or special or anything, it’s just my experience.
So what do you think? Do you have friends of all genders? Or do you think Billy Crystal was right?