Platonically challenged

Miranda: I don't have Steve. There is no having of the Steve. We're good friends.
Samantha: No, we're good friends, but I don't put my dick in you.

Men and women are platonically challenged. In any so-called platonic relationship in which one or both parties have even the slightest desire to hook up with eachother in the near or distant future, the stage is set for battle. Obviously, it's not socially acceptable to go and hook up with every single one of your friends. Friends are supposed to be platonic, meaning the love upon which that relationship is founded is not based on lust or carnal needs. That's not to say that lust and carnal needs never come into play in these friendships, I'm just clarifying for definition's sake. I believe that no relationship with a member of the opposite sex is innately platonic. I think we force ourselves to make or keep them that way out of fear. Fear of rejection, fear of pain, fear of humilation, or fear of ostracization by either the party involved or even by onlookers, who are more than likely friends to you both. Remove the actual possibility of any hookup from the relationship and voila! You've got platonic. But until then, it's not really platonic becasue you're holding on for the company, for the comfort, for the just in case.

But here's an important point: just because you find someone attractive does not mean you want to hook up with them, even if you've toyed with the idea. And while the removal of any possibility of ever hooking up is helpful (for instance, the guy is one of your best friends' exes or perhaps your coworker), it's not the only deterrent. Why? Because oftentimes our brains and consciences intercept desire and remold it until it becomes innocuous, relegated to a faint but unaffecting feeling of sexual tension that will never develop beyond that.