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“Can a man and a woman be friends?” is perhaps one of the most controversial questions since times unknown. As famous movies like When Harry Met Sally or the TV series Friends have tried to explain to us, men and women are ultimately supposed to end up being attracted to each other.

No matter how much you try to separate a friend from a lover, there is always a question mark put up by people regarding your friends of opposite sex. Before you enter into a debate over it, please read below, as Bright Side explores more about this topic.

Scientists have had questions about this topic for a long time and have been looking for that chemical that reacts in male and female bodies. While women may stick to the notion of “just friendship” between opposite sexes, men might think otherwise.

© When Harry met Sally / Castle Rock Entertainment  

Research was conducted at the University of Wisconsin by psychology professor April Bleske-Rechek on whether a woman becomes attracted to her male friends or not. It was a survey which yielded amusing results. The answers in the survey were based on a scale of 10 points and the findings showed that men tend to be more attached to their female “friends,” while women are less attached to their male “friends.” Women are not aloof, they’re just not attracted to their male friends. While men are the ones that sometimes can’t handle being in the friend zone and develop feelings for their female friends.

© Friends / Warner Bros. Television  

There was another interesting observation. Almost 200 volunteers were asked to choose a person of the opposite gender with whom they were not emotionally attached and describe the relationship and chemistry between them. They had to pick either “We are friends” or “I feel a physical attraction toward him or her” or check both. While 42% of men said that they were attracted to their opposite sex friends, only 29% of women admitted to this fact. 17% of men and 5% of women checked both the options.

It was concluded that a lower number of women have shown attraction toward their male friends. Men, on the other hand, have heartily declared their attraction toward their female friends. In fact, many of the gestures of a female toward her male friend are said to have been misinterpreted by men. So, if you are kind and friendly toward your male friends, chances are, per this study, that you might hear some kind of love confession sometime soon.

More or less, the notion of “just friendship” between a woman and a man has been debunked. It has been proven that this kind of relationship does not align with our natural human tendencies.

Do you also agree? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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