There comes a point where a man decides he likes a woman, and at that point instinct takes over. He has a potential partner in front of him and so, she is psychologically sorted into a separate group within his mind.

Bear with me here, because that creates an unnerving problem. Let me explain.

He has the sudden urge to get closer and speak slower... It feels natural to him, almost alluring. Jokes flow and oh the endorphins! But before acting, a buzzer goes off in his head. Because though he finds himself feeling masculine, before embracing it, a buzzer goes off. He must first answer to society. Society tells him that this physical interaction, a very flirtatious and increasingly sexual one, is wrong.

A man touching a woman, slowly caressing her. What a awful sight it is. Such an image is thrown in with gore; it is not something for children's eyes. From childhood we are bred to first differentiate a man to woman interaction, and then eventually to restrict it. Surely she didn't ask to be touched, he is overpowering her.

And so he decides to walk a sort of tightrope balancing between friendship/acquaintance and possible romantic interest. Now this would be fine if his conscious rejection of an emotion didn't make the whole situation into a time-bomb.

His attraction to her becomes real within his own mind and suddenly every new interaction with her is different, somehow less fluid than before. Not that anything had changed, other than his perspective...But...

He continues on. Sometimes he thinks about her. First at work, then at night before he falls asleep. And the heart works its magic. Wonderfully her flaws vanish out of thin air. Impurities and the like avoid and evade his eyes. What wizardry is this?...

Now he thinks of her highly and often. She is slowly but surely working her way up to the top of the pedestal. Meanwhile the damage has already been done. He cant envision the fluidity of interaction anymore because he speaks of her rather than to her.

She becomes almost a prize to him. Something he has to work towards. Something to plan out and allocate energy to. The impossible. The triumph. The-

Something he longs for but in his reality never seems within reach. In actuality he doesn't even talk to her anymore nor does he seem interested. Never asked, never put himself at risk. Why put himself at risk?

Some will say that this is misogyny because he is objectifying her. What a simple minded thing to say. That would be to suggest that she is somehow the victim here. Oh no no no, on the contraire, she is the beneficiary of this situation. His infatuation isn't selfish, its over-giving. He thinks so highly of her that he would do almost anything just for a glimpse of an overt-

The man becomes malleable putty in the average woman's hands. She is the vulnerability that he accepted unknowingly but at the same time willingly. She is his biggest weakness.

....

It is truly an epidemic and the root of the problem.