"Why men and women can't be friends"

By: Bailey Johnson
Topics: Viral Video

(CBS) - It's an age old question, one many young men and women struggle with. As young adults make their way in the world, meeting new people, experiencing new things, they will eventually have to find an answer to a very simple question: can men and women be just friends? One intrepid college filmmaker went out into the field to find out what people think. The answer might shock you. (Or it might not.)

This may be the most important clip on gender relations since When Harry Met Sally. It's also very, very collegiate. But, hey, work with what you've got. It seems the Utah State University campus is pretty split on the issue- that is, split between men and women. It's also almost comically like what you might find in a sitcom. But that may be thanks to the fine editing of filmmakers Jesse Budd and Patrick Romero, the men (of course) responsible for this groundbreaking study.

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by d1puck1t December 17, 2011 7:19 AM EST: Darn. Now I have to go tell my best friend of the last 14 years that we've been Doing It Wrong.; Reply to this comment


by erasmus111 December 11, 2011 4:29 PM EST: Isn't it supposed to be about "pheromones"? If you don't put off the right pheromones for a particular person, then it doesn't matter how ravishing you are. Some people "click" sexually, and some people don't.; Reply to this comment

by uisignorant December 11, 2011 1:55 PM EST

It is kind of funny, I can probably tell the gender of the person writing based on their responses. But NO men and women can not be friends in the hormone years.

The guy will always have some thought about you sexually, even if the woman is not attractive.... He will think about her breasts, lips, or her hips. Women think of sex as an emotional attachment, it is physical for the guy. For most guys, the woman just needs a pulse and for some strange ones not even that.

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by erasmus111 December 11, 2011 4:32 PM EST: "It is kind of funny, I can probably tell the gender of the person writing based on their responses."

So what am I?


by dagrandma December 11, 2011 11:16 AM EST: Perhaps you should ask people who have put a little distance between themselves and their raging hormones. I don't think college is the place for a real objective survey. By the way, the answer is that it's true that men and women can just be friends. Sometimes you both just need to get some wrinkles and put on a little weight......... ;); Reply to this comment


by travisjt11 December 11, 2011 2:55 AM EST: @omegamatrix, techneically to close the case I only have to have ONE girl that is a friend that reciprocates such feelings, which I do.; Reply to this comment

by andretti_auditore December 11, 2011 1:55 AM EST

this study is subjective because of one thing: College. Being on a campus with so many people interacting, the misinterpretations of friend or more than friend are so gruelingly retained. young attractive women as shown in this video are so used to having the attention of many people (particularly young men) that it parlays the need of having an actual camaraderie of one man without intimate interaction. they may have boyfriends, but they are so sly in knowing that they have 5 other guys lying in wait once this guy starts to bore her.

what im trying to say is although the hormones and mannerisms have changed as we have become young adults, social life is still one giant popularity contest. coolest guy gets the prettiest girl, so on and so forth. no matter what you study or how "deep" you become, the trivial things will always take precedence. until actual after college adulthood

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by andretti_auditore December 11, 2011 1:57 AM EST: it is ridiculously hard to be profound with so many grammatical errors haha. my bad


by authorpsychotherapist December 11, 2011 12:45 AM EST: As a psychotherapist I expected the gender responses that were given. Women ideally would like to have men as friends as men bring more tangible attributes generally, aside from the relationship nuance, e.g., like a guy being a Mr. fix-it for a girl, providing a physical security, etc. Nature didn't hardwire the genders to be merely friends, as is almost the same in the animal kingdom. If a woman is interesting enough to a guy to be his friend, why would he not want her to be a lover?

With the usual exceptions of course, a man is not looking for a female to be his friend, as that is why he has guy buddies to toss a football around with, etc. God rested on the 7th day because he almost broke his back making men and women virtually totally opposite, which is what creates the fascination each gender has for the other. Madam and Pierre Curie worked side by side in a lab which lent itself for friendship to morph into a love affair, though this type of situation is rare indeed.; Reply to this comment


by aaggd December 10, 2011 10:33 PM EST: There are just some people that you are not sexually attracted to, even if they are objectively attractive. It would be like being sexually attracted to your siblings.; Reply to this comment

by travisjt11 December 10, 2011 6:52 PM EST

this is a dumb video and topic, I am friends with many girls that I have no desire to have a as a girlfriend. Case closed!

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by travisjt11 December 10, 2011 6:56 PM EST: and yes, even girls who are physically attractive. There are some guys who see passed that and will discount a girl from being a mate based on personality!


by omegamatrix December 11, 2011 2:09 AM EST: Can you absolutely guarantee without a doubt that each and every one of those girls reciprocates such feelings? Case opened.

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by Jaylah54 December 10, 2011 6:48 PM EST: I think it's probably much harder when men are still at the age when they're ruled by hormones. But, although rare, it's not an impossibility.

And I think it gets much easier as you age a bit the men aren't so fixated on sex.; Reply to this comment