Is friendship between man and woman possible?

What is friendship? I suppose everyone has his/her own idea about this notion. Scientists say friendship is personal relations between people based on trust, sincerity, understanding and mutual interests. But this is a common description of the notion.

For me friendship is relations when people want to be together, trust and respect each other, understand each other sometimes even without any words. Friends know each other so in detail as one can predict what another will think or make. It is the friend who will always listen to you, understand you, give you advice and be happy or upset with you.

Of course, everyone used to say about three kinds of friendship: women’s friendship, men’s friendship and friendship between a man and woman. Women’s friendship is generally considered to be weak and most of us will say women’s friendship is over when they like one man. And it is partially true. About men’s friendship one says it is extremely strong and everyone knows men’s mutual readiness to help. And finally it is left the most stirring and controversial question: Is there friendship between a man and woman? And if there is, is it strong or weak?

Most of us will say that “yes, there is”… But is that so? On the one hand: “yes”. And in this case we can distinguish some reasons for friendship between a man and woman, e.g. they have mutual interests, they know each other since the childhood or (and I suppose, it is the most widespread reason) one of friends likes another not only just as a friend but as a potential partner.

On the other hand, if we will rely on the scientist’s definition or my personal interpretation of friendship and take into account that we say about a man and woman therefore this friendship is like love… In addition, there is only a vague border between friendship and love as they both imply personal relations. So if we say about friendship between a man and woman might we say about Platonic love? Can we say that if a man and woman have no sex they are friends? Or what?

I think it is almost impossible to find answers and it is up to everyone to decide: there is this friendship or not...