In Which I Try to Make a Dubious Point

well i think i'm going to try and express an opinion today. it's not something i'm using to doing a lot. but i'm going to give it a whirl. bear with me. who knows if i'll even get through it all. i'm not used to these kinds of things.

anyway, today's topic is 'can men and women be just friends?'

arguing in favor: aparna.

here is my argument.

yes, heterosexual men and heterosexual women can just be friends...(but here's the clincher)...with each other.

exhibit a: brother and sister.
they are just friends, some are close and some are not so close. but i think we can successfully argue that they are not ALL repressing some kind of sexual tension. otherwise, everyone would commit incest or, at least, it would occur at a higher documented rate. i have no research to back up this statement nor any general incest statistics, which would probably be useful in bringing up the subject at all. anyway, granted male-female siblings are bound by blood pool and not any desire to have a relationship with each other, but in many cases, they seem to acknowledge each other and even occasionally speak well of each other.

friends until the end!
courtesy of Flickr and Phitar

exhibit b: man and sister-in-law and/or woman and brother-in-law.
they are just friends, sometimes not friends! but i think we can successfully argue there is no repressed sexual tension and though they are bound by forced family relations, they often are ok watching football games together and/or eating pie and/or whatever families do. once again, i have no statistics to back up my suppositions. mostly hearsay and wives' tales. not all the wives are old.

this looks like good, friendly fun
courtesy of Flickr and JMUgrad04

exhibit c: girl and her father.
ok there are cases of abuse. but there is also the popular societal term "daddy's girl" in which there exists a loving father-daughter relationship with no hanky panky or stanky clanky. this is a pretty solid argument so far.

intensity runs in the family
courtesy of Flickr and Jorb

exhibit d: former boyfriend and girlfriend.
this is the trickiest exhibit of all. and most would argue it's impossible to sustain this one. UNLESS the reason the pair broke up, hopefully after a short but revealing woo period, is they realized they have more of a brother-sister relationship than a romantic one. in which case, i refer you to the flawless rhetoric diagrammed in exhibit a.

so there you have it. men and women can be friends. please refer any questions or disagreement to my face. i will probably agree with you.

ok. that was exhausting. no more opinions until 2007. or maybe the 2008 elections.