#3
The term "friend zone," coined in a 1994 episode of Friends where Joey refers to a lovelorn Ross as the “mayor of the friend zone,” has become so deeply embedded in our society and popular culture that we almost never question it. Many articles put the friend zone into their regular focus, writing on how to avoid it and what to do if you’re being friend-zoned.
But when men refer to the term "friend zone," they are explicitly aiming at women to show how much they’ve hurt their feelings. These who are aware of the fact that the friend zone is indeed a flawed concept criticize it for taking women’s agency out of the picture by making the relationship transactional. If a man is being nice to a woman, it suggests that this feature alone should be enough to make the woman want to pursue their relationship in a romantic direction.
By 2020, we all should be aware that a woman has a right to say "no" whenever and to whoever she feels the need to. And while being a good friend is surely awesome, it doesn’t allow anyone to expect anything concrete in return. After all, even if being rejected can be truly dreadful, it can’t be demonized at the expense of a woman.
