#doofcake

Just to clarify, the bullshit part is the one that the murderer and the majority of fedora-tipping douchebags use. Simply put, what they refer to as the "friendzone"  comes after a failed attempt at starting a romantic relationship, the less bullshit side is what I hear a lot of its defenders say, the state of someone liking one of their friends but being unable to be more than just friends, for whatever reason (such as being afraid of subject of affection ostracizing the one that confessed their desire to pursue a romantic relationship).

The term "friendzone" is bullshit because 99/100 times, it's used by the one that was "friendzoned" and places blame on the one that didn't have any romantic interest, usually preceded with "I did everything right, why didn't she like me?" implying that there's some sort of checklist that needs to be completed before a relationship can begin. It's more of making the one that doesn't want a relationship out to be wrong, even though they're just exercising their free will. Someone crying "friendzone" is an attempt of invalidating the other's right of choice.

Think about it this hypothetical situation: James is a straight male and he has a bunch of friends and one of them just happens to be a gay male, named John. John asks James to go out with him but obviously James just doesn't have any interest in a romantic relationship. Is James suddenly wrong because he isn't attracted to this person? I would hope your answer would be "no". Does it suck for John? Of course it does, but hopefully James and John are both mature individuals and A) John eventually comes to terms with his rejection and B) they don't let this affect their friendship.

What IS NOT bullshit, however, is unrequited love. Unrequited love is somewhat similar to this "friendzone" nonsense, but instead of blaming the one they supposedly loved, they just deal with the pain of rejection and begin with the process of moving on. That process sucks, obviously, but it has to be done, trust me on this, I have first-hand experience with how painful it can be. Throughout highschool, I was attracted to my best friend, trying to get her to notice me and whatnot, but she was interested in my older brother instead. When my feelings ultimately surfaced, I got rejected and she started dating my brother. Did it hurt to get my feelings rejected? Of course it did, but in the end I got over it and, if anything, our relationship grew stronger because of it.