Not sure if I should cut my male friends off

OFF MY CHEST

I don’t have too many guy friends to begin with (in my really close circle of friends I prob have 10-15 girls and maybe 5 guys at any given moment) however the guys I am friends with I’m extremely close with, and lately I’ve been really overthinking if being friends with them is something I should be doing, especially now that I’m getting older (I’m 21) and will prob be meeting people for marriage within the next few years.

For context, the guys I’m currently close with, 2 of them I’ve known practically my whole life . The rest I’ve meet the last few years but they’re good people and I’m selective about all my friendships anyways.

Whenever I see people online say men and women can’t be friends because someone will always catch feelings, or that guys only want one thing and they wouldn’t be friends with you just because, I find it hard to agree with. So many non Muslims have friends of the opposite gender they aren’t attracted to, so that defeats the whole argument of them only being friends with you cause they’re attracted to you. I know I love my friends purely platonically and I know for a fact that my guy friends aren’t attracted to me like that, otherwise they’d had so many opportunities to let me know.

However despite all of this, a part of me still wonders if I should be friends with them or not. A girl friend of mine recently cut all of her guy friends off and I respect her a lot, initially I thought good for her but I wouldn't do that, but now I'm kind of wondering if I should do the same..

I value human connection a lot, connecting with other people and making friends, and I know that all my friendships have helped me get through a lot, and I know that I’ve helped them as well.

I do want to get married and have kids in my twenties tho, and I feel like I should figure out how I feel about this whole topic since when I meet guys for dates/marriage, this will def be something we discuss and have to see eye to eye on. But how do I see eye to eye on a topic I’m not sure about myself. I’ve always thought I wouldn’t mind my husband having female friends, esp if he has known them for a while and boundaries are put once we’re married (and I’ll do the same), however I’m not sure about that anymore. Esp if I end up having kids, I want to model a good life for them, but then again I also think it’s bad when men have zero female friends, I think that’s when women become foreign creatures to them and they only view them as love interests you avoid with until you’re ready to get married, they don’t really get to see them as real people. And I don’t think I’ll want my future sons to be this way.

Really torn apart thinking about this, no judgment please, looking for compassionate intelligent responses to help me figure out a solid stance on this. wiling to hear people with different views out, just be respectful please.

Posted Aug 12, 2026, 8:17 PM UTC

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