This Valentine’s Day, Remember: There’s No Such Thing as the Friend Zone

Reckon you've been friend-zoned? Well, sorry, but it's not real.

As we descend on another day of Saint Valentine, we will inevitably run into the same, old conversation of the lone single mate who's in that position due to being heavily "friend-zoned".

In the most reliable dictionary known to us, Urban Dictionary defines the "friend-zone" as:

What you attain after you fail to impress a woman you're attracted to. Usually initiated by the woman saying, "You're such a good friend". Usually associated with long days of suffering and watching your love interest hop from one bad relationship to another. Verb tense is "Friend-ed".

There's even a goddamn logo for the community.

But, while on the surface, it sounds like a fun, millennial term used to describe the phenomenon of unrequited love, there is a darker subtext at play.

First of all, the definitions of the phrase almost always refer to women who just won't give their nice-guy friends a chance. They are seen as withholding themselves from the guys who are just so nice and caring for their female friends, they deserve a shot.

But, hey, guess what? While my mathematic skills are a bit shoddy, I'm pretty sure "nice guy" + his female friend ≠ automatic relationship (looking at you Tom in 500 Days of Summer).

In some of the examples on Urban Dictionary for friend-zoning, women who friend-zone are referred to as time-wasters and teasers.

In the age of the #metoo and Time's Up movements, the concept is at odds with females being empowered to reject and report inappropriate sexual advances and speak out about them when they aren't dealt with properly.

It's time we realised that friend-zoning has no place in 2018, just as it had no place in the mid-2000s when the term seemed to be coined.

So, remember, if someone has made it clear that you're just friends, then You. Are. Just. Friends. Check out the song below for further reading on the subject.