Having a "friends with benefits" relationship has become almost commonplace in today's society. It's a way to express your desires without any strings attached sometimes. This concept may send your sweet old grandma running to the church to send some prayers your way because it's rather taboo to many people. A relationship is often viewed as something meant to be committed and monogamous.
One person meets another, sparks fly, romance blossoms, and wedding bells are audible in the distance. Those who are not in support of the whole "friends with benefits" thing do have a point about how friends with benefits usually ends.
There are pros and cons to having a friend with benefits, but it seems the negatives may outweigh the positive aspects that exist. A lot of people would warn you against pursuing this because someone usually gets hurt. It's never the intention on either end for somebody to take a hit, but it's hard to avoid. Friends with benefits relationships usually end when one person catches feelings that aren't reciprocated.
But other reasons can include a lack of respect or boundaries, waning interest in the fling, or another opportunity coming along for a serious relationship. It can be almost impossible not to get personal feelings entangled when getting intimate with another person, even if it was established from the start that the relationship would be strictly physical. A big part of intimacy is mental because you have to at least be attracted to the other person and enjoy their company in order to have a good experience.
So, when emotions and attraction get mixed in the same pot, things get messy. But psychotherapist Paula Kirsch explains that FWB relationships actually have worked out well for some young women, saying, "I have heard more than one twenty-something female client report benefiting from being friends with benefits. They often say that they previously have only had unsatisfying, awkward, bad, or coerced sex.
