Nothing wrong with having women friends. In fact, women can be great friends! If you can honestly be ok as friends, do it. However, be honest with yourself. If you can't and the friend zone is like a romantic purgatory, that's not healthy. It's bad for her and for you. It's not that the woman is not good enough to be friends with, it's the man can only 'get over' his romantic feelings with some separation. See it for what it is and have the self-respect to move on. You might be able to re-engage later as friends, or you might not.

On a side note, characterizing a man's masculinity as fragile is pretty rude. Were you trying to be rude? Why?