I’m a firm believer that friends with bennies never works. Let’s be real — a friend with benefits is a boyfriend. If you’re hooking up with a friend, it’s a guy who you get intimate with after a few too many adult beverages, and then watch Netflix with during daylight hours. Last time I checked, that’s all you need for a bonafide, Facebook official relationship. Plus, friends with benefits has no real, true ending. A hook up can either become a relationship or fizzle out, a relationship can either end in marriage or heartbreak. If it’s FWB, that means there is a distinct, real reason that the two people in question don’t want to actually be together. Whether the boy is a Peter Pan man-child, or the girl believes that her Prince Charming is lurking at the nearest bar, FWB guarantees that there’s something missing from these two people actually wanting a real relationship, which means that it’s going to end, and probably in disaster.
Despite the inevitability of a friends with bennies realysh not working out, it might not be as dire as we previously believed. A new study from Purdue University and Syracuse University discovered that almost 70% of people in FWB relationships were able to salvage their friendship post-coitus. The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality had an annual sex research conference in Omaha (because where could be sexier?), and they discussed these findings during a talk called, “Can Friends Who Have Sex Stay Friends?”
Said study examined 200 friends with bennies during an 11 month period. Using online surveys, they found that 26% stayed FWB, 28% went back to being buddies (even though they’d boned), and 15% actually fell in love, just like a rom-com “meet cute.” The other 31% ended up with no relationship at all, which I’m sure led to a lot of subtweeting and Taylor Swift listening parties.
If your secret dream is that one day your gorgeous guy friend will finally wife you up post-penetration, you’re out of luck. If you’re tired of Tindering, and just want to get it in with the nearest available non d-bag, then you can without completely risking your friendship forever. This study found that the best way to come out of the relationship as buddies was by being open about what you expected, which is pretty much true for every relationship, FWB or otherwise. While you don’t need a 50 Shades contract, you do need to make sure that your FWB won’t be macking on other biddies in front of you, and that he won’t make you watch him play video games, because that’s girlfriend territory.
New Study Proves You Can Actually Be Friends With Benefits
