I've said this elsewhere before...
The term "friendzone" has been horribly overused and abused to the point of worthlessness in any meaningful discussion.
Nobody is obligated to get into a relationship with someone they aren't romantically attracted to.
BUT, I think the derision against it has become so virulent that the effective message being communicated is that it's wrong to even entertain hopes about a relationship beyond friendship.
In the past, I've been called sexist and chauvinist (not on this board) because I was upset and frustrated that a friend I was romantically interested in didn't feel the same way about me. That sort of situation is painful, and while I eventually got over it and we remain friends to this day, I don't feel that I deserved the accusations of sexism and chauvinism that I got for simply using a term that I felt described my situation and that I hadn't, at that point, heard the negative connotations about.