The friend zone: Can men and women ever really be just friends?

Mary Cate Smith wonders — can men and women ever really be friends?

Can heterosexual men and women really be ‘just friends’?

Can heterosexual men and women really be ‘just friends’? If we are to believe rom-coms, platonic relationships between the opposite sexes rarely exist. The second her biological clock starts ticking, even the most independent woman will consider the hometown hick. If it wasn’t the village idiot the movies were peddling, it was the painfully bashful Hugh Grant-type, who self-effacingly mumbled his way into bed with the women he used to call friends.

Fashion influencers Damien Broderick, 31 and Michelle Crossan, 34 are close friends and neither party has ever considered taking the relationship to the next level, says Damien.