Here's the thing 1. It's Men. It's historically considered that men don't want simple. A women who confesses her feelings first or that who accepted a request fast has been labeled "slut" or "whore"...her value for him lies on her being hard to get. It means she probably has had not many partners, she's probably a virgin, cause she's hard to get. So it's the reaction from women, to men's preferences. 2. Unfortunately, What most men label as " playing hard to get" is a lack of interest in women. Since Many men don't take "No" for an answer, they, on their own terms, translate it as " try harder" which is crazy and is a reason a lot of women suffer because the reality is, they don't really want a relationship with that person. Like genuinely. 3. A lot of women fear rejecting a man. Because, it's a fact that a lot of men don't really take rejection well. It's extremely dangerous for women. Globally, the United Nations reports that approximately 51,100 ( smaller than the actual number because of a severe underreporting btw) women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members in 2023, averaging 140 deaths per day. And from those, 75% of them were killed because they said "No" or trying to leave. There men that kill, abuse, threaten and stalk when they get rejected. So women don't say No to save their lives but they also don't say yes because they don't want to. 4. Some women view it as a test. To see how hard he's willing to try to get a chance with her. And it's attractive to them. But it's very obvious they want him to try because they also initiate some things. 5. A lot of men see Kindness, a smile or a genuine human decency from women and think she's flirting. When in reality, she's not.