These are interesting questions and I certainly don't have an answer, but they are worth thinking about. I've had good female friendships that were devoid of any sexual element, at least to my knowledge, but looking back, they've always been friendships that sprung out of deep interests in one particular thing and outside of those contexts we didn't really click or hang out much. Maybe that's indicative of my personal character flaws. I don't think that people in my life would characterize me as any sort of chauvinist, but I will admit that I hadn't thought about any of the questions you present.

I have met a guy who was at that time exclusively dating (I don't know the correct wording) male to female transsexuals. He explained that to him it was a dream combination as he was physically attracted to these women and that they could relate to him well. I don't know if that meant that he could also relate to them well, but I didn't really want to dig deep into his thoughts on the matter as I had only bullshitted with him while drinking a few times.