“When you have been hurt by a romantic relationship, that can create a roadblock to looking for friends of the opposite sex.

We may be willing to chance the hurt again for another romantic relationship, but because there is a tendency to value friendship less than a romantic relationship, we might choose not to pursue a friendship with someone of the opposite sex. But when we ignore half of the population as potential friends, we limit what we’re able to learn from them. We miss out on knowing more about their experiences. We miss out on knowing more about their worldview. We miss out on knowing about their strengths and challenges. We limit how we can move through the world when we put opposite-sex friendship in a box and refuse to open it.”

“While studies have shown that there can often be an element of attraction between opposite-gender, heterosexual friends, there are still plenty of benefits to these kinds of relationships. The most obvious is the way that they help both people expand the way they view the opposite sex. Men and women, whether through nature or nurture, often have different ways of viewing the world, and a close friendship with someone with a different perspective can broaden our views. The closer the friendship, the more validity we may assign to those viewpoints. Hearing a random stranger tell you about what it means to be a man or woman today may not carry much weight, but when a close friend tells you, that may mean something more. Which means a greater sense of empathy for those strangers you meet. It’s much harder to ignore someone’s experience when it mirrors that of a close friend.”

The Ted Lasso Relationship Guide by Alise Chaffins