Why do some women use passive-aggressive behavior instead of simply saying what’s wrong?

Genuine question, particularly for women who recognize themselves in this kind of behavior.

Why, when you’re angry, disappointed, hurt, jealous, or dissatisfied with your partner, do some of you communicate it indirectly instead of simply telling him what the problem is?

I’m talking about behaviors such as:

giving him the silent treatment or sulking;
answering questions with one-word replies;
deliberately avoiding eye contact;
acting cold while insisting that “nothing is wrong”;
withdrawing affection or physical contact to make a point;
deliberately withholding sex as punishment or leverage — obviously not simply declining sex because you don’t want it;
trying to make him jealous by mentioning or flirting with other men;
becoming distant and waiting for him to figure out why;
saying “do whatever you want” while clearly expecting him to understand that he shouldn’t;
expecting him to notice subtle changes in behavior and correctly identify what caused them.

What puzzles me is that all of these behaviors require the other person to interpret a signal rather than simply receive information.
If I’m upset because you did X, the clearest possible communication seems to be:
“When you did X, it bothered me because Y. I’d like you to do Z instead.”
That gives the other person something concrete to understand, discuss, disagree with, apologize for, or change.

Passive-aggressive communication seems much more uncertain. The other person first has to notice that something is wrong, then realize that the behavior is intentional, then identify what caused it, then work out what response is expected — and if he interprets any of those steps incorrectly, the conflict can become even worse.

So what is the purpose of communicating dissatisfaction this way?
Is direct confrontation uncomfortable? Does explicitly asking for attention, affection, reassurance or an apology make you feel too vulnerable? Do you expect your partner to know you well enough that you shouldn’t have to explain what’s wrong? Is making him figure it out a way of testing how much he cares?

Or is there sometimes a punitive element: “You hurt me, so I’m going to make you uncomfortable until you understand what you did”?
I’m not claiming that women are the only people who behave this way — obviously men can be passive-aggressive too. I’m specifically asking women because I’m interested in understanding the reasoning of women who have actually used these behaviors with male partners.

If you’ve done this, what stopped you from simply saying: “I’m angry with you, and this is why”? And what did you expect your partner to do in response?