by Lauren Vino

Sure, you’re close with your girlfriend, but her guy friend has likely been in her life for even longer. In most cases, girls hang on to their platonic guy friends over time for help weeding out the opportunistic creeps.

Being a girl is hard. You make platonic guy friends, only to have them tell you there’s no such thing as them; there are “just dudes trying to hook up.” And this sometimes feels true. When I was single, I had a ton of guy friends. Now I just know a lot of guys who like my boyfriend more than they like me.

Like it or not, platonic friendships with the opposite sex are important — and they aren’t always a symptom of unrequited or unresolved desires. You don’t want your girlfriend to cheat on you, sure, but you also wouldn’t want to be the only guy in her life. She doesn’t want that either. Here’s why she really wants platonic guy friends…

To Be Gross With

If you’re the only guy she ever sees, your relationship might eventually become too much like a friendship to be romantic. Everyone likes to be deliberately disgusting sometimes, even girls. Her platonic guy friends give her a face to burp into that she doesn’t have to kiss later.

For Good Guidance

Guy friends will tell her what dudes hate, and will be appreciated for the same bluntness that would get you (or any other boyfriend) in trouble.

To Yell At

Girls yell at guys the way guys yell at sports. We do it because we’re rooting for you, because you’re doing it wrong, and because yelling is fun. Yelling at guy friends instead of boyfriends allows us to satisfy this type of assertion without the same relationship consequences. Consider him your surrogate for getting this out of her system.

To Fix Up

She wants to help her gal pals find a guy. That’s impossible if you’re the only dude she hangs out with. Plus, if she’s setting her male buddy up with other girls, it confirms you have nothing to be threatened by. (You should be more worried about your girlfriend setting him up with you for a bromance, unless you want beer drinking to feel like a play date.)

For Knowing If You’re A Keeper

Sure, you’re close with your girlfriend, but her guy friend has likely been in her life for even longer. In most cases, girls hang on to their platonic guy friends over time for help weeding out the opportunistic creeps. She trusts his advice, so maybe don’t act like such a paranoid dick around him.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.