Starting in kindergarten, girls and boys share a love-hate relationship.  While as children the two sexes keep far apart and swear off ever straying into the other team, things change by the time we grow up.  Romance seems to surface between men and women when the two spend enough time together, or so say some.  According to others, men and women can sustain a strictly platonic relationship all throughout life.

Friendships are a crucial part of everyone’s life.  As in any other relationship, friendships have their high points as well as times when the connection between the two individuals weakens.  While same-sex friendships take a lot of work to maintain over a significant period of time, opposite-sex friendships require even more effort in order to diminish any uncertainty about the extent of the friendship.

The Meaning of Platonic

The dictionary definition of a platonic relationship, also known as platonic love, is "an affectionate relationship between two people of the opposite sex, where there is no sexual element, although there could be the possibility for it."  It is love based on the beauty of a person’s character and intelligence, not the appearance.

Fact or Fiction?

The world seems to be equally divided when it comes to believing in platonic relationships.  These relationships seem to be more complicated than any other and they carry a certain amount of ambiguity of the sexual charge between the two individuals.

Some say that it is much easier for a woman to maintain a platonic relationship.  While the ladies are able to look at a guy as just a friend, men run the risk of thinking of their female friend in a sexual way.  Men are likely to develop a desire that could ultimately, if acted upon, ruin the friendship.

Do platonic relationships exist -- in my opinion?  Yes, they do and no, they do not.  The possibility of a platonic relationship depends entirely on the situation.