Platonic Friends of the Opposite Sex

    Can I or any other straight male be platonic friends with a female?

   I had to ponder this as it's something that comes up with some regularity in life. Because most people will look at crazy if you mention that a friend you kick it with is of the opposite sex.

   I have many female acqauintances but I also have ONE clear cut female friend. We work together and wound up hitting it off right away. We had some things in common and it turned out she liked the fact that I was a good listener. We wound up sharing long conversations both serious and fun, so of course we bonded.

   It took me longer to trust her than it took for her to trust me but eventually it did happen. The deal here and one reason it makes it all simple for us is that we both see other people. There really is no sexual tension. THAT is the main thing. I recently watched an episode of the always interesting "Louie" show and in it he was hanging with a female friend that thought of Louie in a platonic way and in his case it was the total opposite. And he almost wound up ruining the friendship because he had underlying feelings for her. And if  my female friend and I had any underlying tensions like that, this friendship wouldn't work.

   What separates us from being acqauintances is that we have both spent time with eac others' families and have done favors for each other in times of need. We both get along very well with the opposite sex too. We have discussed dates with others at times and offered candid opinions to each other and advice and anecdotes.

   We're also fortunate that we work someplace where we're not being judged for talking to each other and joking around. I guess the ones that would have trouble understanding are the people that we date.

   But it's a good feeling to have a meaningful platonic friendship that offers different perspectives on things many times. I think most people could have this but there can be NO SEXUAL ATTRACTION.

   Is that possible?