Opinion on parrying

So I recently got into a heated discussion with someone about whether parrying is cheating in bf2, see I think that even tho it's an exploit it has become an Essential part of the game, and without it there would be too many spammers. But he was trying to tell me that there is no defense against parrying, which I think is wrong and you could doge anway and not spam them, you know? play conservative.

Anyway what is your opinion on parrying? Do you consider it cheating? Or is it an essential part of the game now?

EDIT: I'm not going to dis you if you say they're cheating. I'm just genuinely curious if parrying is typically considered cheating.