Do guys even want or need a female friend? That one question alone is still a mystery to me.
I have a few, and to be honest, I'd rather have guy friends. No sexual tension. You can truly be friends.
However, if I were to date someone, I'd probably have to view them as my best friend as well. Wierd paradox.
Female acquaintances, yes. Absolutely. Even close ones. But actual friendships can't really be maintained once the man and woman are married to other people. We aren't yet such an enlightened society that such relationships fail to raise ugly suspicions.
If a man claims he wants to be a woman's friend, he wants something else. If a woman claims she wants to be a man's friend, she's trying to head off something else. It doesn't quite work, does it? ;)