Man and woman being roommates without being a couple?

[bson1257]

Is it possible for a man and woman to be roommates without being a couple? Is it considered strange or unusual for this to happen?

[Balzac]

I've known a few examples that worked well. Large urban living during early career, prior to grad school. Shanghai and NYC.

[MissBee]

Is it possible for a man and woman to be roommates without being a couple? Is it considered strange or unusual for this to happen?

 

I wouldn't do it personally.

 

I would be uncomfortable sharing my space with a strange man.

 

But I know people who've done it and it seemed to work for them.

[Robert Z]

I've done it twice and it was no big deal. I even slept with one of my room mates a few times. There was no chemistry so we ended it and continued as room mates.

 

The one was literally the girl next door all while I was growing up.

[Els]

Are you talking about literal 'roommates' (as in you share a bedroom) or housemates (that some people refer to as roommates)?

 

Housemates would be very common. Roommates, I've not seen anyone do it with a platonic friend of the opposite gender.

[bson1257]

Are you talking about literal 'roommates' (as in you share a bedroom) or housemates (that some people refer to as roommates)?

 

Housemates would be very common. Roommates, I've not seen anyone do it with a platonic friend of the opposite gender.

 

 

I'm talking about a man and woman sharing a two bedroom apartment or something like that, not sharing the same room

[Els]

Is there any particular reason you are asking?

 

Personally, I have lived in mixed-gender housing arrangements, but not just me and one guy in a 2-bedroom. There were a few of us of mixed gender in a place with 3 or 4 rooms.

[D-Lish]

I don't see it as strange at all. I've had LOTS of male room mates over the years. I lived in a few different houses with revolving room mates during my school years- many of which were guys.

 

No big deal. It was always like an episode of Three's Company.

[Star Gazer]

Yes. The best roommate I ever had was my male roommate the last 1.5 years of law school.

[USMCHokie]

Not weird. I lived with a divorced woman and her two college-aged daughters for three years during school and had a female roommate another year a few years back. I prefer female roommates.

[mesmerized]

Of course it's possible, happens all the time. If the woman is attractive and the man is single though, there is a 99% chance that the dude is fantasizing about sleeping with her.

[carhill]

Pretty uncommon in my social circle but did have some positive examples, post-college, during which such living arrangements were a lot more common. The commonality I noted was with female friends who had strong boundaries about friends and lovers, regarding interactions with men.

 

Personally, I doubt I could thrive in such an arrangement. Different strokes.