I've been telling a lot of other men various portions of this for years, whether at the WAATGM comments section, on the trp.red side of this site, or various TRP or askTRP comments sections. I figured it was about time I stopped repeating myself and consolidate this info into a single post I can link back to in the future.

Caveats: much of the female behavior I'll discuss here is done out of instinct; they frequently won't even realize they're doing it. If you accuse them of keeping you as a backup option like a retarded autist, of course they're going to deny it. They aren't consciously aware that's what they're doing, and they don't like being accused of being a "bad person". None of this is about morality, but rather about what's beneficial or detrimental to you as a man.

Conventional RP/MGTOW/manosphere wisdom is that men and women cannot be friends.

While this is generally true, it's not without exception.

Generally, if a woman puts you in the FriendZone, it's for one or a combination of the following reasons:

• she wants to reject you without being "the bad guy" and still has some of that instinctive fear that you'll become violent if she says how she really feels ("eeew! get away from me!").

• she's not attracted to you enough to throw her pussy at you, but you're not so repulsive to her that she wants to reject you outright, and so wants to keep you around as a backup option (aka orbiter).

• she doesn't want a sexual relationship with you, but still wants to use you for attention, favors, etc.

That third thing is the worst part of being FriendZoned. You're wasting time, resources, effort, and energy on someone who isn't interested. As Rollo pointed out, women will crawl over broken glass to fuck a man they want to fuck. If you allow yourself to be used in this manner, and she's doing nothing for you at all, this is what most guys in the manosphere are talking about when they advise against having female friends.

however....

Genuine friends who are female, while rare, can exist. Here's how you filter for them.

1) try to get her to fix you up with some of her hot friends. If she sets you up with a decent one, while steering you clear of man-eaters, then she's a real friend. If she constantly makes excuses for every single one of them as to why she can't/won't introduce you, she's more than likely trying to keep you as a backup option.

2) if you start dating a woman, get a girlfriend, or even just hook up with a chick at a party, is the friend in question happy for you? If so, then she's a real friend. Does she act jealous and weird? She was most likely using you as a backup option and hates that she's losing you as one. (yes, there's a possibility that she's a real friend and knows your new woman is bad for you. while possible, this doesn't happen all that much from what I've seen.)

3) does she do things for you, even though she clearly won't sleep with you? Does she give you gifts, or cook meals for you, invite you to parties she's hosting, etc etc etc? Or are the friendship gestures strictly one-sided, with you doing all that shit, like moving her furniture, buying her shit, etc? If you have an ounce of sense and self-respect, then you know what the answers to these questions mean.

that's great, Typo, but why would I want any female friends?!

Aside from the same reason you want male friends (companionship, you do shit for each other, etc), they offer something male friends don't necessarily give very well: strong social proof.

Women tend to be cautious around men they don't know, and for good reason. But if they see that you have female friends, a lot of their trepidations vanish. You are safe! You aren't going to cut them into pieces and feed them to pigs! You aren't going to put them in a pit, starve them until their skin is loose, and then kill them to make a suit out of their skin! Yes, it's kind of silly, but it makes sense from their perspective.

If you find yourself in a woman's FriendZone, just pay attention to how she treats you. Decided what you'll tolerate, and what you're willing to do for others and what you expect in return. Don't be afraid to let users (of either sex) fall away, while still cultivating friendships with the ones who help you on your journey (or at least are fun to hang out with without draining you).