There are a lot of variables in play, and I really have no idea if this holds up for any particular woman or not. But as a guy, who spends a lot of time talking to other guys about approaching / meeting / dating women, I can definitely say that - in my experience - there is absolutely an "intimidation" effect where men will avoid the hotter women because they assume that:
A. "she's out of my league and wouldn't be interested."
B. "she is that hot, she probably gets hit on all the time and is therefore probably snooty / bitchy towards strange guys."
C. "she can have any guy she wants, so surely she's dating some bigshot executive with a rolls-royce and a private jet... no point in little ole me going over and talking to her."
D. "etc."
Not saying that all guys do this, or that all guys do it in all situations, but there is something plausible about this.
[From my single days]
I'd generally want to get laid. So women that show absolutely no interest are great - no time wasted. Women that want to f... you right there in the bathroom are also great, but rare.
Women that are nice and hot are great. But women that just string you along for whatever reason, they're your enemy - you waste all that time, and you get nothing for it. Had many of those experiences as it's sometimes very hard to tell which is which. US women in my not-statistically-significant experience were the worst. Europeans, South Americans, Asians, all more real and less likely to string guys along.
So in hindsight I think the most important skill is to cut losses early. Or as one womanizing friend told me - the skill is not to convince a girl who doesn't want to to sleep with you - that's not gonna happen; the skill is to spot those that are looking for sex tonight.
The hotter you are the more you'll get hit on, guaranteed.
I think it depends. I've dated girls that I think would be considered 'hot' and have talked to them about this exact subject. Many were not hit on very often or they were only hit on by the kind of guys that they would never date. The I'm god's gift sort of guy (think Jersey Shore TV show ugh).
And no, having some drunk guy yell across the bar he wants to marry them is not getting hit on. Hit on would be a guy coming up and trying to have a real conversation.
From a guys standpoint rejection is hard no matter how confident a guy might be. Even if a guy wants to hit on the hottest girl he finds, he may opt for one less externally hot in order to lessen the chance of rejection. Said guy may not even realize he's making this selection.
No I'm not a woman, I've just gotten lucky with the women I've dated. For every guy who is intimidated there are 5 others who due to the anonymity of just walking past her on the street will feel compelled to say something.
That compulsion increases with however hot they are, though it tends to jump dramatically when they are at a certain level of beauty, normally a level where no matter the circumstance they are usually always considered beautiful by anyone around.
A. "she's out of my league and wouldn't be interested."
B. "she is that hot, she probably gets hit on all the time and is therefore probably snooty / bitchy towards strange guys."
C. "she can have any guy she wants, so surely she's dating some bigshot executive with a rolls-royce and a private jet... no point in little ole me going over and talking to her."
D. "etc."
Not saying that all guys do this, or that all guys do it in all situations, but there is something plausible about this.