Plutonic or not

I have been thinking about the question of whether or not men and women can be just friends.

My first reaction is yes of course we can. I have a number of friends who are men.

But then I began thinking about it a little closer.

I started thinking about the male friends I have.

After thinking about each one in turn I realised that in the case of my friends I can have male friends without there being anything sexual between us only because my male friends respect me enough not to take advantage of our friendship.

I do believe that it is perfectly possible to have close friends of the opposite sex without there being anything sexual between them. However having examined the friendships I currently have with men are perhaps only plutonic in the sense that I am not sexually attracted to them although I am well aware that they are sexually interested in me. I am also aware that they keep their sexual interest under control out of respect for me.

I was going to say that I am lucky to have friends who respect me enough not to take advantage of me but then again if they didn't have enough regard for me then we wouldn't be friends in the first place.