<P> Writer Jeremy Nicholson in Psychology Today suggested that a romantic pursuer, in order to avoid being rejected up front, uses a ploy of acting friendly as a "back door" way into a hoped - for relationship . When this method does not work, the pursuer consequently is placed in the friend zone . </P> <P> The term "friend zone" is sometimes used in pick up artist (PUA) literature, where it forms part of PUA theories about female sexual attraction to males . </P> <P> According to some psychologists, the man in a cross-gender friendship is more likely to be attracted to his woman friend than she is to him, and he is more likely to overestimate her interest in a romantic or sexual relationship . </P> <P> Feminist writers have argued that the friend zone concept is misogynistic and rooted in male narcissism . The nice guy concept has been criticized as a gender trope with an underlying message that kind acts demand a sexual or romantic reward, and that this concept implies that if a woman and a man have a platonic friendship and the man becomes romantically attracted to the woman, then the woman has an obligation to return his affection . A woman who does not return her "nice guy" male friend's affection is viewed negatively or seen to be at fault . </P>

Where did the term friend zone come from