[A human Being]

Originally Posted by dream jo

yes thy can e frinds thy can

I agree

Originally Posted by jro5139

Not sure I should answer this because not sure I can without offending every man that reads it...
I'm really not trying to man- bash but in my experience, no, because men always want the sexual aspect, and when they realize they aren't going to get it, they get angry and leave. Some even try to say they want friendship and that's ok, still the saga always ends the same.
At this age (old), I would rather my relationships start with friendship, but I don't meet men who are willing to do that. So you either have to jump into bed with them right away, or they are gone. It's an all or nothing situation.

Oh I don't think it's man-bashing at all, and I'm not offended - sadly I think what you're saying is applicable to at least a fair majority of men, myself included. In myself I experience this as, at root, simply a desire for intimacy; I think this desire becomes sexually fixated in lieu of an authentic emotional connection, because vulnerability is still an issue for me and there's still a fear of expressing what I'm really feeling because I learnt in childhood that it wasn't ok to do so - though this is something that's in the process of changing, I feel.

At this stage I'm very much on the same page as you as far as desiring that relationships begin with friendship, my two closest relationships began that way. I loved these women as people, first and foremost, I loved their warmth, intelligence, humour, eccentricities, insecurities, etc., and actually I think sex only ended up clouding the issue.