Those videos on the first page (These here! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.400176-Poll-Men-and-women-being-freinds#16439434]) actually sort of sum up why I don't think Men and Women Being Friends can work if there's attraction.
Everyone on the internet is an exception, but I will vocalize what I've found in my individual travels. When it comes to relationships of any kind (again, in my travels), women are the socially accepted driving force. If a woman liked me and I didn't like her, not only would it be acceptable for her to push her feelings but our mutual friends would get into the act. "dude, she likes you. She's hot. Just go for it." It seemingly did not matter if I returned those feelings. Once a woman greenlights it, your feelings are supposed to follow suit or something is wrong.
Similarly to if she doesn't have feelings for you. Even in a dating situation, the most that I've found is that the terminology changes and you're supposed to pick up on it and quietly nix any feelings you were developing. Over some point and time, your 'dating' becomes 'hanging out'. And if you want to ask why the switch, it's almost gauche. You should psychically understand and then have your feelings again change to follow suit.
Or if you both start out as friends and you developed feelings. Too bad. A lot of the times (not all of them because it has happened to me as well), if the woman has you as a friend, get comfortable. Exploring the other possibilities are usually not even allowed. You were brought in as a friend, and you most likely will die as a friend.
Again, these women don't encapsulate the female gender, but the women in the video are thinking about their perception, as the men are thinking about their own. If a dude's a friend in these women's minds, he's a friend. There's a reason why she didn't pick him in the first place, and that seems to be ironclad. Even in an hypothetical situation. A hypothetical situation, and an overwhelming number of women can't even foresee a possibility why it might be hard to just be friends? That's astonishing to me.
I don't like having my feelings matter that little, so if I develop feelings and I know she hasn't, I just gradually pull away from her until my feelings go away. Or if they don't, I just do not go back. Mainly because whatever made me develop feelings for her will still always be there. And whatever kept her from feeling that way for me will always be there on my end. Why torture myself and put her at unease as well?
