Friendship typically happens out of common interests and respect. Some friends are for a reason, some for a season & a few for a lifetime.
Male/female dynamics do play a role with friendships between members of the opposite sex. I am buddies with a man I understand that the dynamic changes if I or my male friend gets into a relationship. The significant other assumes the role of closest pal of the opposite sex, certainly in marriage or even LTR. So as the buddy you simply adjust & acknowledge the dynamic.
What I have found with long term opposite sex friendships is that when one or both pair off with someone else then you get the benefit of doing couples stuff or double dates with your friend and seeing your friend happy, which makes you happy too (since you want your friend to have happiness.)
My father is close friends with a woman he's known since law school. My Dad is in his 80s so this is a friendship that has lasted more than 50 years. This woman is like a sister my Dad never had. He used to evaluate her dates when they were both single and now she has been married to her husband for 50+ years and I grew up with their daughter. My Dad is close friends with both the husband and the wife but knew the wife first. They never dated (her and my Dad).
My sister growing up had a best friend in the neighborhood. They are both happily married to their spouses some 20 years in and have been friends since kindergarten but again never dated. More like brother & sister. Both spouses enjoy great couples relationships.
My mother had a close male friend from high school. Same thing. Never dated, married other people, were good couple friends.
I'm dating a man with plenty of female friends. Some are his age, some older, some are even his parents' age. Doesn't bug me at all. I know he's interested in me so I don't give it a second thought. He isn't concerned about my male friends. But day to day contact is with each other, nobody has orbiters.
My closest male friends (with the exception of my ex) do not live near me and we might catch up several times a year, visit if we are in each other's city or ask each other for advice when we need it from a source that can be trusted. So this isn't daily time investment but if I called on these friends they would be there...and so would I.
So maybe I don't see an issue because successful opposite sex friendships were modeled by both my parents I don't know. I've never seen the opposite sex in an adversarial way. If someone is a cool person they are a cool person. That's all that matters.
As you go along in life true lifetime friendships show themselves to be rare no matter the gender. I'm blessed to have almost a dozen friendships that are 15 years or more in, outside family.
So my advice is if you find someone cool, get to know that person. Maybe it's a male buddy, maybe it's a female buddy, maybe it is sex and companionship or something more. I think it's silly to dismiss people based on some preconceived notion. I'd rather be open to people & see what develops. I have friends old enough to be my parents (male & female) and young enough to be my children (male & female).
If you ARE a good friend you'll never lack for good friends. Being a good friend means listening and supporting and celebrating someone else's accomplishments and lending an ear or assistance when times are tough; friends are not simply a receptacle for the "How great am I show".
Loyal friends are rare. I don't care if they have boobs or balls.
. Overall though, they tend to not be nearly as interesting as men and don't really offer anything I can't get from a friendship with a man.
