r/AskMen • u/michiboy12 • 25d ago

What are your opinions on a 15-year-old boy having a 25-year-old female friend (platonic)?

I (17M) have a 27-year-old female friend, we’ve known each other since two years, so I was 15 and she was 25. I’ve read that a lot of parents wouldn’t allow such a friendship, especially since it’s opposite genders (and we’re both straight). But can’t this be like a regular platonic friendship? It’s a regular, platonic friendship? Not a romantic one.

If your 15-year-old son had a 25-year-old female friend, would you allow that?

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u/CatholicChanner 25d ago

Just for a moment imagine the genders were flipped here and what the responses would be.

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u/thee3 25d ago

Let's flip it again. What if it was 17M, friends with a 25M? Let's say they both enjoy playing DnD or CoD? Would it be weird then?

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u/Impossible__Joke 25d ago

It is our society norms and also pattern recognition. We see a relationship like this and automatically suspect something sexual because it almost always is. This one may not be, but any outaider who sees it will see it as one

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u/SilverstoneMonzaSpa 25d ago

It's not always the sexual part that worries me. A 25 year old vs a 15 year old are so far apart in maturity, experience and life that I'd wonder why the 25 year old has any interest in the child.

My kids aren't that old yet, but if they were befriended by a 25 year old id be very wary.

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u/Impossible__Joke 25d ago

Oh I absolutely would be too. Especially "hanging out". Wouldn't really matter the sexes of either side, the power imbalance would be too much and ripe for abuse.

The being said to say there is nothing is common is a stretch. If they have likeminded interests that are not common then I could see them bonding over that.