Can there be friendship between a man and a woman?

[Pciuc]

I am a woman and my other half has a friend (single woman) who he has introduced me to at the beginning of our relationship. He has been very open and assured me that nothing ever happened and there would never be anything there as they are not attracted to each other.
I do not have male friends and never encoutered something like this in past relationships.
I do not want him to stop seeing her, I trust him but I do not want to be around, I want him to continue the friendship but far from my sight( avoident I know, but just because I am fearful of misreading something or getting hurt).
What does everyone things? Can there be a friendship between a man and a woman?
How can I explain to him the fact that I do not mind him seeing her but I do not want to be there without sounding crazy?

In my personal experience men and women can be really good friends, but only if there is no physical attraction what so ever on either side.

If there's an inkling of sexual attraction then no, they can't be just friends.

Thanks.
It’s strange to be accused of arrogance when each and every experience has made me feel utterly shit about myself.

Is the extension that Bi-people can't really ever have any friends?

No, you don’t. See? I am literally disagreeing with you right now and you have no right to stop me.

You’re disagreeing that I have the right to not be friends with men?

No. Do try to keep up.

Cool. She we agree ✌🏼

No, we don’t.

I think I have the right to choose to not bother having men as friends.

Do you agree or disagree with that?

It’s possible but in my experience it only works when the woman is not conventionally attractive or when the man is gay. I know I’ll get outraged responses to that but in my experience 99% of straight men will want to sleep with a female friend if she’s attractive. They might not act on it but the desire will be there.

I am really sorry to hear about what has happened to that girl in your school @Thedevilhasfinallycaughtupwithhim That shouldn't happen to anyone. That story speaks volumes... of the individuals in it, not rules. But I can say type down stories, too. When I was a teenager we were taken to rowing championships. There used to be parties after the events. Once a young guy from our team had too much to drink and almost raped a girl
from a different team. I was the one who fought him off and got beaten up for it pretty bad. What does this prove? other than the other guy being absolute scum? nothing else.

Not once have I said that people who have negative experiences are not validated or their experiences are disregarded. But that is the one truth about them - they are all individual experiences. And as such there is the potential for an experience to be good or bad.
And with that, you have every right to not be friends with men, you do what you feel is best, of course.
I hope you'll have a great rest of your day.

“Not all men”

Message received.

I agree with that. But I disagree with other things you've said -- such as that you have a right not to be disagreed with in a public forum.

You seem to be unable to keep up with this conversation, and I've made my point, so I'll leave it there.

you truly only hear what you want @Thedevilhasfinallycaughtupwithhim . I grow tired of those who pick and choose what they want to hear, completely ignore fair points, like children...
(absolutely nobody prompted you to write the story down of the girl, and when i respond to it the same way, to hold up a mirror - that is your takeaway. The absolute irony... wow)
it is like playing chess with a pigeon.
Wish you all the best.

I didn’t, at any point, say I have the right to not be disagreed with on a public forum.

You’re one of the good ones… I get it.

Sure, sure.

I do have the right to not be friends with men. Just to clarify that was what I was referring to.

You have the right not to be friends with who ever you like. There are no equal opportunities laws about friendship. You can be not friends with men, poor people, gingers, Northerners, bus drivers (I've never met a bus driver worth a second conversation). You set the criteria.

Thanks

No, I don’t think it’s arrogance. It seems they were nasty men who thought they could take advantage of you. In that scenario, it’s rarely about attraction and more to do with control.

I think you’ve been really unlucky. I have a huge mixed friendship group. Many male/female really good friends and nobody has ever crossed the line with each other. Some people are decent and some are just shit unfortunately.

I'd have said yes until recently.

My dh was also friends with one of my friends. They had lots in common but I was never really concerned.

Turns out they had started messaging in secret, confiding in each other, meeting up for secret lunches, she was telling him all about her sex life with different men. He woke up about it all and told me after I thought they were acting strangely around each other.

So no, friendships may start out platonically but there is always the possibility they'll change if one or both of them become dependent on each other.

I was under no illusion that it was because they thought I was Rotherham’s answer to Cindy Crawford.

Well it’s intriguing to me OP. I have plenty of male friends that I would spend time with 1:1. But I’ve never felt the need to tell my now-husband that nothing has happened between me and these men. If I wanted to play the field I wouldn’t have chosen to be in a relationship. Did you ask him if something had gone on or did he bring it up seemingly apropos of nothing?

I’m not outraged, I just disagree with you. This has not been my experience at all. Sounds like you know some odd men who just see women as a sex object. Not the kind of people I’d like to be friends with.