The anomaly is the modern west
Globally and historically speaking, it seems to be our modern west, who is the outlier, who believes that men are the sexually proactive ones.
Figuring out definitely whether our modern culture has got it wrong, or the ancient texts, has led me to a lot of field testing, and I can say with absolute certainty: The bible was right on this one. Women are obsessed with sex in ways men can't even fathom. And seduction, the mating dance, is 100% led by the woman.
So why am I telling you all of this? To tell you that not only is the way most people think about the human courtship behavior is wrong, I am also telling you why people believe in this wrong thing, specifically, where this belief comes from. We've subscribed to Darwins view of sexually passive women, and in doing so, have completely lost track how the human mating dance actually works.
MEN, DON'T HIT ON WOMEN
If your brainspace is very crowded and you can only remember one thing, this should be it:
MEN, DO NOT APPROACH WOMEN.
I know that's what the pick-up artists tell you, or maybe your dad or your mom or your friendzoned ladyfriends, but you have to stop this. Do not hit on women. Do not approach them. Let them approach you. In the human mating dance, initiating contact is the job of the woman. Hammer this into your brain.
Conversely, if you are a woman looking for "seduction advice", that's going to be a different article. I'm not a woman and I have very little practical experience seducing men. Which is part of the reason why I've been hesitant for 15 years to write this.
But to put it simple: Women are the proactive gender when it comes to the mating dance. Women do the approaching. Women do the initiations, women do the escalations. The job of a man in the context of the mating dance is to reject or reciprocate.
It is women who are built to do the contact initiation. They are small, cute, have childlike voices, not threatening. People like being approached by a woman. Contrastingly, being approached by a man, means being approached by a 8 tall foot human bulldozer, bred for millions of years of evolution to be the most efficient killer around. That is a physical threat! At least from the perspective of the average woman.