Can there ever be real opposite gender friendships?

I have male friends I'm not attracted to, and who aren't attracted to me.

I guess I kind of see it as childish for people not to be able to do this.

I enjoy friendships with guys, but guys seem to be insulted if I don't want to have sex with them. Here I am, valuing the friendship, but they are just putting in the time and being nice to me in case they can get laid. That's what it often seems to boil down to. Lots of guys seem selfish with their time and just don't have time for female friends unless there is something in it for them. That's been my experience.

I have plenty of friends that are girls, many that I even are attracted to as far as I think they are good looking. Some of them are married and some of them are ex's. I still have maintained good friendships and have had a hard time understanding why some people have trouble with this.
From what I can understand some people get romantic obsessions which I seem immune to which probably causes them problems if they get upset they cannot be with them.

You mean friendships in which the people aren't attracted to each other? Of course, I have about as many female friends as male friends and I'm not strongly attracted to many of them.

However, I'm curious as to why you think attraction makes a friendship not "real", or gives it lesser value. I think my friendships with girls I find attractive are just as valuable as the ones I have with girls I don't find attractive.

There usually is, most definitely if you're gay.

Of course! My best guy friend is gay, but I think a lot of guys are nice without seeing them as more than friends. The guy I like has a lot of female friends which worries me sometimes because I'm scared of losing him. I prob shouldn't worry though right? Because opposite gender friendships are totally possible (or same gender if you're gay) :)

I have some close friends of the other gender, though most of them are not attractive to me. I'd say that I'm more comfortable developing strong friendship with guys that are either unattractive or that has other traits that I simply would never be able to stand if we had been more than friends.

Myself I decide within the first minutes of meeting someone new if i could ever see them as more than friends.

Why wouldn't you be able to do this? I am.

As a gay male I have straight male friends I would consider attractive but I'm not really into people who aren't going to be into me. So maybe at first I think of them as cute but I stop noticing pretty quickly once it is established they are straight. To the point where I wouldn't really think about it unless someone brought it up. Knowing someone would never reciprocate is perhaps the biggest turn off possible for me.

If they are gay and I find them attractive then it really depends on whether they seem sexually interested or not. If they definitely aren't it's pretty much the same as the straight scenario above. Doesn't effect the friendship any though.

Maybe it would be different if I was 15 again though. After a while I think maturity allows most people to form meaningful friendships with people of any gender or persuasion.

That was a lot of questions to answer so I'll just mention my experiences. I think it is completely possible as I've had several female friends that I didn't like and didn't want anything more from them. That doesn't mean that I didn't occasionally fantasize because well, they ARE still female after all and the hormones don't shut off just because its a friend. I just don't tell them that because there isn't a point unless I actually like them or they are cool with things like that.

That said, I have also ended up liking a few females that were friends first and I don't think anything is wrong with it. We're not talking "Oh she is a cute friend, gonna try to date her ASAP!", I mean a natural and truthful liking over time thing. One of them is a friend who I can't help but to lust over every time we video chat. I think my post is going many places so I'm just going to say yes.

Some.

Throughout my life, I've had many close male friends. Never have I once had feelings for any of them. I've always been closer to them than with any of my girl friends. I've never attempted anything with them because I've never felt anything for them. They always help you whenever you need it; it's really nice. Honestly, those people that say you can't have a friend of the opposite gender, suck because it can happen without sexual tension. I feel kind of bad for them because they'll never know how amazing it is to have a guy stand up for them.

My three closest friends are all males. We've known each other for 16 + years. One of them is my cousin, so basically a brother to me, and the other two are completely platonic friends. We're 20+ years old and still have sleep overs, and movie nights and video game seshs where we go for hours. Not once have I, or any of my guy friends, attempted anything sexual. We joke around with each other about our sexual lives and are very open, but we are not physically attracted to each other.

There are people who say you can never be just friends with the opposite gender. They can speak for themselves because my friends do not want into my pants or vice versa. I feel bad for people who can't be friends with the opposite gender, you miss out on an entire perspective you'd never have.

I had a female best friend for 25 years, we met way back in H.S., we never did anything sexual with each other, we were more like a bro and sis type of thing, only she wasn't as much of a dick as my real blood sisters are! LOL .. She only had 1 boyfriend that ever had a problem with us being BFF"s, til I firmly let him know one day that there was never and would never be anything sexual between the two of us and that we really WERE just BFF's, I did have quite a few GF's that had a problem with her and I being BFF"s though and so they had to quickly be kicked to the curb. Her and my wife got along really great for many years. Sadly my BFF took ill a few years back and had to be hospitalized and never came out.

Sure! My cat, Bob, is best friends with me!

I totally think a guy and girl can be good friends. Even best friends! I have a guy whose 6 months younger than I am and we're pretty much best friends.
A few of my friends think it's kind of weird and think I'm actually crushing on him, but I'm not. We just get each other. We have a mutual understanding and a great friendship. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't believe I have ever felt anything sexual towards my guy friends ( I am a straight girl by the way), let alone sexual tension. I may fool around like flirt a bit but nothing sexual in it.

My best friend is the opposite sex. but then again, I'm also bisexual, so it's as big as an accomplishment as being a friend with a man without falling for him. I did have a crush on a best friend of the same sex when I was a kid, but he later turned out to be a douchebag.

I have friends that are girls, that I'm not attracted to and aren't attracted to me. One of which is a very good friend of mine actually, 'best friends' you could say.

Most definitely

Yes. I think so. While I've had plenty of mal friends want something more than friendship, I've never gotten a crush on a friend. For me, there has to be some kind of "it" factor in order for me to feel a romantic attraction to someone. I'm a grey-asexual (if you're wondering what that is go to http://www.asexuality.org/home/ so the desire to have sex is never there.

I have had a few women friends but they were not friendships that have lasted like the few I've had with men.
Perhaps as time goes on and we each become involved with our spouses or lovers, the affection falls prey to distance.
Or maybe it wasn't really friendship, but a deeper connection with an acquaintance? I've had friendships (not relationships) with men that have lasted from high school or college until they have died, that no amount of distance or time between meetings has affected adversely.
Or perhaps they were really a desire for a deeper relationship that didn't develop, and would have interfered with current relationships so they were allowed to fade away?