I believe it's extremely important for a man to have women among his social circle of friends, and he should, unless he has a social disability. You cannot look at every woman as a potential sexual conquest, or, if the situation is reversed, be unable to connect with the woman who wants a relationship on some platonic level. In all the arrangements I have had, as well, it was important that a friendship be established before it advanced to anything beyond that. It is then very easy to remain friends.
Many years ago, I had a close (platonic) single female friend who would invite me and other single male and female friends- usually 8 at a time, 4 men and 4 women- to a rental property she owned in Mass., in a resort town on Cape Cod. She one time warned me that one of the female friends she had invited was in a relationship, and she did not believe in friendship or platonic, friendly banter with any man she was not in a relationship with. Just did not believe in it.
Our female host issued this warning to me and a friend who joined me, lest we think her friend was rude. Well, the warning was appreciated, because despite the fact that we did things as a group all week- boating trip, dinners, etc.- this friend of hers did not talk to me at all, not one word, nothing. When my female friend host explained it to me, she said, "she does not get that men are people too." I have carried that prophetic statement forward in my life, because "women are people, too."
