I think men and women can be just friends. Most of my friends are women.
Like most of the people here said, as long as you both know that it
won't go any further, you can be good to excellent friends. Sometimes it
is nice to talk to someone about goood and bad relationships and other
things with someone with a different perspective. And as far as being
single or not, the main reason why it's people prefer single people is
because, in my opinion, it helps to cut down on the friction and/or
jealousy (sp?) of the relationship. Common courtesy.