This is a beautiful explanation of the friendzone dynamic. I think women have no problem with this dynamic because they see everyone from their female hive mentality. Women use each other to share resources. For example, a particular woman knows five different men. Each man has a different skill set that can provide her with a service when she needs help. So she goes along and plays nice with them so when something breaks, she can call the man with the particular skill she needs. The 5 men think she likes them because she is nice and is basically baiting them for future services. Since men want sex, this is almost effortless for most attractive women. Problem is, this woman has no intention in sleeping with any of these 5 men. She sees them just like she sees her female friends, like other bees in the hive.I think some of the posters on here are missing what @NealIRC is getting at here. He is essentially asking what it is that men can do that ultimately leads them into the friendzone.
I think a big factor today is that many women are far too readily open to attention from other men, even when they are in a relationship. A woman may be going through a rough patch with her bf or maybe talking to some guy that she is pursuing that doesn't have much interest in her. In the meantime, she is totally open to talking to other men that eagerly give her attention. Eventually, things with the man she is truly interested in line up for her and the other guy she had been entertaining all along more or less falls to the wayside. With all this said, you can't really blame one party or the other, as both are equally guilty. The guy is guilty for being far too readily available and eager to give attention to a woman who he knows really isn't all that interested in him. The woman is guilty for essentially entertaining this other man's attention when she doesn't even have any real interest in him.
I would say that the majority of "friend zone" issues play out something like above. I feel a lot of women legitimately aren't even aware of when they do this unfortunately. I've seen some articles showing that women are far more likely to UNDERESTIMATE the interest that men have towards them and that men OVERESTIMATE the interest that women have towards them. I believe that this is the root cause for the vast majority of cases like this. Women think men are being friendly or just looking to chat when they fail to recognize that these men are only going out of their way to interact with them because they are interested.
With that said, there are some cases where women will blatantly lead men on for no real reason and waste their time. It's a bizarre dynamic that I still don't fully understand, but I believe that it's a man's job to be able to spot these women for what they are and knowing how to cut them off. I've met several women like this and they are a complete waste of time, they are like energy vampires that bring no real value.
From the male perspective, our ultimate biological programming is to procreate. So when the woman you found attractive and spent time trying to court is not interested, the end game is defeated. From then on, she is a complete waste of time. Women say men are not entitled to sex but they are also not entitled to our time and resources. The sooner you find out the woman doesn’t see a future with you the better. Cut your losses and move on. They don’t mind using your attention because they see you like another female friend. You just became her “gay male girl friend.”
Guys will play themselves and think I’ll just be friends with her and she’ll eventually see how great I am. Wrong. You‘ll catch feelings for her while she uses you and sleeps with another guy who made zero effort. The more narcissistic the woman, the worse she will play men. I have a coworker that has a man at home but she openly flirts with any new guy that gets hired. Especially if she can use him to get her job done. She’ll use all her flirting tactics to get the guy hooked for her future resource and attention needs. It is quite slimy when you realize her game.