To expand upon this, let's talk notions of "what men and women want." I'm speaking very generally here, just stay with me.

Men want sex.

Women want love.

Now comparing those two things, it's obvious that one is physical while the other is abstract. Sex can only be performed so many ways, but love is an indefinite idea that means many different things to many different people.

If a women is willing to trade sex for companionship and knows of a man she is willing to, let's say "solicit" sex with him, her course is predefined. There is no guessing game of whether one course of action is better than another. Sex is sex. Yes, there's of course there's variances, but ultimately sex is definite. It either is or isn't.

But men looking for a woman's companionship must solicit love. How do you do that? How do you give someone the opportunity to "fall in love"? How can one male stranger to a female stranger demonstrate the correct faculties? Love is indefinite. It is a fleeting chemical response felt in the brain. And whatever triggers that response is incredibly variant from woman to woman, from person to person.

Put more succinctly, a stranger can offer sex. A stranger cannot offer love, not in a romantic sense.

This is the ultimate difficultly when approaching women who:

A. Expect you to charm them into loving you, thereby implicating no effort in their own part, merely participation.

B. Expect you to fail or signal an alarm in their mind that makes you incompatible, whatever that alarm may be (which, again, greatly varies).

And

C. Actively avoid legions of men who try their hand at a conversation.

So not only is the sole act already difficult, it's a competition. It's not just you fighting your nerves, it's you fighting her expectations and the other attempts of who knows how many men.

When people say dating is a numbers game, what they're really saying is dating is a loser's game.

That's not even bringing in the concept that maybe, just maybe, men want love too.