Privacy was paramount-for example, imagine the fallout if two friends learned that one-and only one-had unspoken romantic feelings for the other throughout their relationship. In order to investigate the viability of truly platonic opposite-sex friendships-a topic that has been explored more on the silver screen than in the science lab-researchers brought 88 pairs of undergraduate opposite-sex friends into…a science lab. New research suggests that there may be some truth to this possibility-that we may think we’re capable of being “just friends” with members of the opposite sex, but the opportunity (or perceived opportunity) for “romance” is often lurking just around the corner, waiting to pounce at the most inopportune moment. However, the possibility remains that this apparently platonic coexistence is merely a façade, an elaborate dance covering up countless sexual impulses bubbling just beneath the surface. Daily experience suggests that non-romantic friendships between males and females are not only possible, but common-men and women live, work, and play side-by-side, and generally seem to be able to avoid spontaneously sleeping together. Can heterosexual men and women ever be “just friends”? Few other questions have provoked debates as intense, family dinners as awkward, literature as lurid, or movies as memorable.
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