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“Men Can’t Be Friends With Women Without Wanting Sex”

…And other bullshit blanket statements

Dave Tieff
5 min readJan 14, 2025

Harry: You realize of course that we could never be friends.

Sally: Why not?

Harry: What I’m saying is — and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form — is that men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.

This exchange is from the movie When Harry Met Sally, starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan — a box office smash in 1989. Besides Ryan’s fake orgasm scene, it’s the most notable “takeaway” from the film.

I like to challenge ideas that make their way into pop culture — especially when they come from a single line in a romcom — since we love to accept them as gospel without bothering to check their validity.

My most (or least) favorite idea to challenge is from Jerry Maguire when, as Jerry, Tom Cruise confesses his love for Renée Zellweger’s character, Dorothy Boyd, and ads the famous line, “You complete me.”

Romantic? Yes.

Bullshit? Also, yes.

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Dave Tieff
Dave Tieff

Written by Dave Tieff

Alcohol-Free singer-songwriter & AI-proof cyber journalist. Here to discuss everything sex, drugs, rock, and culture🤘🍄🎙💋 www.davetieff.com

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