Men and women absolutely can be friends, you just need to find people who are genuinely willing to be friends without it progressing further than that. A lot of the time they don’t have it in them tho and expect the relationship to take a certain turn just bc it’s between people of opposite genders, hence this mistaken belief that men and women cannot ever forge new platonic friendships. It’s definitely hard to find like-minded people who don’t expect romance wherever and whenever, but it’s not like they’re extinct.
Anyway all this discourse between “the straights” is really funny to witness bc gay folks have been making friendships with people of the gender they’re attracted to for millennia lol it’s not this elusive practice unheard of or impossible to achieve, guys, bc unless you’re a sex addict who can’t keep it in your pants, you absolutely should be able to make friends with people of any gender