FUCKKKKKKK!!!! Ok So can sum1 wise and more mature than me help me out????? My girlfriend sinc ei have known since second fuckin grade...just got engaged....now i shoudl remind u that she is wayyyy too young to get married...only 20! I mean for god's sake she cant even get into a bar! Why do girls need a man to live life? i have never been a dependant female nor should i ever be. Am i right guys, but women are way more attractive when then can function life on their own and then with practice and compromise work you into their daily routine? lol i mean i always thoguht of guys as a weekend....pleasure.....or desert for my crazy weeks. i go out and have fun after everything and you know, if your a good match, then keep u around! Please gvie me some impact bc i dont knwo how to deal with someone getting into somehting that really isn't good for her!!! 
Subservient to the whims, (as in- (good or bad, right / wrong, race, religion creed, color) of man. In other words to be: Bare foot and pregnant. Little girls are given dolls and baby dolls to dictate what they should have and, to be in this life, you can, also add: want / looks, to that list.
All I can say to you is, if you cherished that friendship since, 2nd grade then, you probable knew what she really wanted as in (the words she never spoke / the in complete sentences she never finished.) weather you knew or not!
This is what her, heart / mind feels, right / wrong, this is the way she wants to live / experience life.
Sounds like you are scared, that the friendship will change / end.
The change is inevitable. The END on the other hand if, you keep forcing / telling her that this is not for you (her), then yes it will END probable, faster then you think / feel.
1=Are you right about women not having to need man, YES.
2=A women should not be dependant on a man / a man should not be dependant on a women, -that depends on what you constitute as, dependant on / in. (shades of gray there)
Answer to 2=If dependant on: as in-me man, you women I make the money, you dont / not allowed to. Then: YES, god YES, you are right.
3=That women are way more attractive when they can function in life on their own, then with patients and compromise women, can work you into their daily routine. YES, but with an explanation. This goes too deep to write about.
BCH