2022 and this is still a thing - Can Men & Women be Friends?

[sour candy]

I have a lifelong group of male friends where it's been strictly platonic, but I feel like i'm incredibly lucky to have had these friendhips as almost every single other friendship I've had with men outside of my core group, i'd say a nice 85% of them have expressed romantic interest in me. It's honestly incredibly annoying and RUDE! I think it boils down to why the men decided to become friends with me in the first place. If they're becoming friends with me out of a mutual genuine interest or just think i'm cool/funny whatever then it's usually fine. The problem is that men have a terrible time befriending women that they aren't attracted to or view as a potential love interest.