4 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: XKCD 1325: Rejection
I don't think he could have taken an un-gendered approach.
I'm can't say I've heard of a female version of friend zoning. Or rather a female variant of friend zoning. The closest I could think of something similar would be guys rejecting a girl because he just want's a physical relationship and not a mental/emotional one.
This comic uses two guys as friend zoning is a guy thing. It has more impact this way.
Comment by XMorbius at 04/02/2014 at 01:15 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I'm can't say I've heard of a female version of friend zoning.
The term describes any instance where one party desires a relationship beyond friendship, with the other rejecting them by offering to be friends. As such it's gender-neutral. Now, it may seem gendered because the assumption in US society (and others) is that women are asked out by men. This means men are the ones who bring it up the most - it's most relevant to them. If the roles were reversed (or ideally, if there was no assumption on who was asking out whom) the term would almost certainly seem less gendered.
Unrequited love is a frustration all genders share, and all of them can have good and bad reactions to it. But humor can end up submitting to trends, and that's what happened here - the trend of calling out so-called nice guys made it into the comic. And like most humorous takes on things, the reality is much more complex.