This can be spun so more if you like.  The women’s way may actually be worse. 

Once a woman categorizes a man as a friend only, it becomes next to impossible to break out of that mode, whereas the male way is showing more respect by not automatically dictating the present and future standing of another human being.

I’m not sure why you would assume that’s how most women ‘categorize’ their relationships. I’m a straight woman who has definitely re-assessed romantic possibilities with my male friends after becoming single. If I rule them out it’s due to perceived personality conflicts rather than thinking “oh they’ll always be just a good friend”.

How much time do most woman know a person before finally labeling them a certain way, a label they may never shake.

I read a lot about women who seem to decide relatively quickly whether a male is going to be “just a friend”, or possibly more than a friend. Once within the friend zone, that is where the male generally stays.

If a woman dates and decides there are “no sparks”, that pretty much means that date will remain a friend at best. The question might then become, how many dates to decide that there are “no sparks”.

I would suggest that relationships that start “too high or too intense” from a romantic and relationship point of view then struggle to maintain what might be an early on unrealistic plateau. 

There is a saying that I really like, “If the pleasure remains, does it remain a pleasure?”. If a relationship is conjoined through early on mental and or physical fireworks, is that relationship destined for a very slow fall from such early euphoric but unrealistic expectations?

If you could design a graph of the ideal relationship, where would the highs and lows be, and how often would they occur? 

It’s a catch 22 for both men and women.  Many women feel more comfortable chatting up  and befriending men they have no attraction to, as they can let their hair down and feel more relaxed.  Men tend to be attracted to women who give them positive attention.  That’s why there’s often a car wreck at this intersection.

–Cobra

It’s not apparent to an adolescent. A grown man out to realize as much…