By Choi Sung-jin
Is “pure friendship,” or a perfectly platonic relationship, between men and women possible?
When Duo, a matchmaking company, asked this question of 631 people in their 20s and 30s earlier this month, 88.3 percent of men said “no” and 55.2 percent of women said “yes.”
Asked how many “true friends” they have, 40.3 percent of respondents said they have three or four real friends, 33.6 percent said one or two and 13.8 percent said five or six. Those who replied they have no real friends accounted for 9 percent of respondents.
Men have about 2.7 real friends on average, and women have about 3.2. People who answered they have no real friends accounted for 15.3 percent of male respondents and 2.8 percent of female respondents.
Asked whether they have true friends of the opposite sex, 65 percent of respondents who replied they have real friends said “no.” By sex, 88.3 percent of men gave the negative answer while 55.2 percent of women gave positive replies.
As the most important criteria of friendship, the largest share of respondents (30.6 percent of men and 27.8 percent of women) cited whether they could meet them with comfort. Men also pointed to “long acquaintance” (22.8 percent) and “fun to meet” (15.8 percent). Women cited “bond of sympathy” (20.3 percent), “sharing of secrets” (16.1 percent) and “frequency of get-together” (11.4 percent).
Asked what they would do if they are forced to compete with friends over the same person of the opposite sex, 41.1 percent of men said they would neatly give up and seek others while 40.1 percent of women replied they would approach the person in well-intentioned competition.
About a third of male respondents (33.1 percent) also said they would stage competition in good faith and 11.5 percent said they would win their love by all means. Among women, 32.5 percent said they would give up and find others, and 17 percent said they would propose both sides give up the person.