Underlying Sexual Tension

[disalarming]

A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other… maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever.
- Dave Matthews

The majority of my good friends are male, and while I have been only friends with almost all of them (as in, there has been no romantic history between us), some of my good male friends and I have experimented with being in a relationship, with varying results. While there were different reasons for each relationship not working out, I have remained on good terms with all of my exes, even if the initial transition from boyfriend/girlfriend to friends was a little rocky. Still, though, I feel that regardless of whether or not I have dated my good male friends, there’s a certain element of attraction between us. It doesn’t matter how small or overwhelming this sense of attraction is, but the fact remains that it is there.

After years of maintaining that boys and girls can be friends without any sexual tension becoming involved, my experiences in high school and college have slowly changed my mind. I think that if a guy and a girl are really good friends, there is some degree of underlying sexual tension between the two. That doesn’t mean that either have to act upon this tension, or that it will even make a difference in the friendship, but it is still there, no matter how much tension exists. In some cases, it might require a delicate balancing act between the two parties to take care that neither slip into the dangerous “more than friends” territory, especially if the other only views the person as a friend, or weeks and months and years might pass before one realizes that all along, they’ve loved the other as more than a friend for all this time.

Question of the Week: Do you think two people of the opposite sex can be friends without any attraction whatsoever?

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.