I’m sure everyone’s heard of Ladder Theory, which Wikipedia disdainfully refers to as “cynical pop psychology”. It’s more or less a rephrasing of one of the first conversations between Harry and Sally in the movie “When Harry Met Sally” (duh) that men and women can never really be friends if the man finds the woman to be attractive. Sally was skeptical (as I’m sure many women are, or else they wouldn’t agree to “just be friends”) that men really do view women in that way.
Here is a validation of Harry’s viewpoint that men do tend to view female friends in a sexual light from an abstract from a meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (source: Marginal Revolution):
Getting Both Sides of the Story: Sexual Attraction and Sexual Events Between Opposite-Sex Friends
Matteson, Lindsay K. (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire); Gragg, Brittany I.; Stocco, Corey S.; Bleske-Rechek, April
Debate exists on whether opposite-sex friends experience sexual attraction to one another and, if so, whether that attraction adds spice or strife to the friendship. Little systematic research, however, has evaluated these questions; and existing studies have not asked for both friends’ perspectives. In the current study, 89 pairs of young adult opposite-sex friends (mean friendship duration = 2 years) reported on their friendship. Men reported more sexual attraction to their friends than did women, and this sex difference endured after controlling for men’s greater sexual unrestrictedness. Approximately 25% of friendship pairs had romantically kissed, and over 10% had “fooled around.” Attraction to friend was not related to friendship duration, and sexual events occurred at various time points in the friendship, suggesting that attraction to friends isn’t something that is “overcome” with time. We discuss our findings in the context of mainstream literature suggesting that opposite-sex friendships are inherently platonic.
I find it amusing that almost all the authors (well, I can’t tell with the name “Corey”, probably a guy, I guess) are female. I can only imagine what the grant-writing procedure must have been like…