Seduction is a game Anna.... But if you don't know how to play, you lose every time!
As a highly sought after woman, you probably don't need to know much about how to approach a man you want. More often then not, they will likely at least listen to you or return your smile. Men will not give you an attitude if they believe you try to hit on them. I'm not saying they will all fall for you, but at least you get a decent chance.
But if you are an average guy, student in accounting wearing glasses and brown socks, timid and with very few women in your environment, you probably need to learn some of the basics. Otherwise, you can be yourself all you want, nobody will care. And if you're in this situation, whom do you learn this from?
Early on in my life, I followed diligently all the advices I received from girls about how to behave with them and be a good man. And I did end up with a whole phone book worth of very pretty girls' phone numbers to call and go out with. I remember an evening when I went out with one of these girls, so pretty! I was strongly attracted to her, and she knew it. In the middle of the evening, she leaves me 2 min to go to the washroom. Then I see her talking to a guy for 30 sec before return to our table. And she tells me "you don't have to drive me home, I'm going to his place, we're going to have sex after this". You have no idea how this made me feel, and the wink this guy made to me from across the bar... I felt so humiliated, ashamed and hurt. I was young and so stupid back then. If this happened to me today, I would just stand up and leave. But back then I was a nice man, so I continued to chat with her, make her laugh and have a good time and warmed her up for the next guy! And things like this happened all the time. When this happens once in a while, you get upset that one night, and move on. But when this happens to you all the time, when you have never success and only humiliation, then you are deeply sad, lonely and helpless. But you don't know how to do things differently. And as I'm writing this, I am absolutely certain there are multiple other men in here who went through something like this.
I'm sure you know some men like I was back then, Anna. Very good guys, they do all the right things, look good, are pleasant, make you laugh, respect you. But you feel nothing. And therefore wouldn't consider them.
So, there is one very important thing I learned painfully in life: Do not follow any advice from any woman about how you must conduct yourself to be considered as an option by her or her peers, she likely does not know herself!!!
I recognize that there are assholes amongst the PUA community. Self-proclaimed PUA looking for a commercial success and/or men who are disingenuous with women, and jerks taking advantage of men in a position of weakness. But if you go beyond the cliches you see on screen and if you read a bit around, there is another mentality as well in this group. It's about having the confidence to approach someone you don't know and who will likely reject you, having the courage and perseverance to face that rejection and try again, about making this fun for both the man and the woman and avoiding the trap of becoming "just a friend". And, of course, for starters, it's about grooming to be at your best... lose the brown socks, get some contact lenses! You know, the basics. Having a group of men ready to teach the basics to another group of men is actually something good. Yes there are sharks in this group of men. But I assure you there are some very decent guys who will teach others that they don't deserve being stepped on just because they're "nice" and will teach them how to handle themselves to be an option for this woman, instead of letting her step on them to go have sex with the next guy. And also avoid falling hopelessly in love with every single girl you court: if she's not interested, move on, there are 3 billions of them on earth! It is not about being disrespectful or manipulative to a woman, it's about being your best self to become an option instead of becoming the "good friend". And I feel this is fair.
For every arrogant PUA jerk, there are at least 10 clumsy guys trying courageously to improve themselves and to learn some basic skills to approach women in an attempt to have a fulfilling relationship with at least one of them. That is not worth laughing at.