Tammy, the difference is the man when playing the field wants to have sex with all the women...these women only want sex with one or 2 guys and want to be friends with the rest..major difference.
It has always been like that though- most women do not sleep with every man they date, in fact many women only sleep with a few or some women don’t sleep with anyone except the one they marry.
I admit I don’t like the idea of planning on keeping men hanging around that you don’t intend to sleep with or marry, as a practice but I have had a few men as friends all my life. I grew up as a tomboy with three brothers and their friends hanging out at our house so I relate to men better than I have to other women friends. It can be tricky for a female to have male friends, you have to be cautious to make it clear that is all there is...as you say most/many men want to sleep with every woman.
I don’t socialize with men without hubby since I married over 30 years ago but when I was single there were men I dated that I had no intention of sleeping with and we were just friends. I had male friends that would go with me to a wedding, movie, help fix my car or whatnot, and they called on me for things like that too. I didn’t lead them on but it just worked out that way. I even had a male friend for a roommate during the Carter years when it was tough to survive without sharing expenses. I met him when we went on a date, it was obvious by the end of the evening that we liked each other, had a lot in common- but no other feelings for each other. We never dated again but later rented a house together to share expenses and we are friends to this day. Our friendship has never caused issues, we don’t socialize without our spouses and never a question that we are just friends.