What do men find appealing in a shy girl?

Well, some guys can be really shy as well. I've terribly shy myself and it can take me a very long time to get warmed up to a girl to even converse with her. The physical appearance thing. Well, guys can think that a girl is "out of his league", so to speak and that may also be a reason to not approach a girl. I know personally I have thought that before. I've also not wanted to approach a girl because, yes, I was afraid and didn't want to get laughed at.

If it's at a workplace, that setting alone may make him not want to approach you. In todays world, a guy can get slapped with a sexual harassment suit just for saying "hi" to a girl. So he might be afraid of that. Or he might be afraid that if he does approach you, and you decline, the whole workplace might start gossiping about it. I know those are some of the things I've worried about.

So the short of it is that there can be multiple reasons. I'd suggest you might try to find a way of asking guys out and such. I wish more girls would. :) If it's difficult for you, it can be just as difficult for a guy too.

I'm a shy man myself and what I have noticed about the dates that I go on is that the women are doing most of the talking. Now I can keep up with what they are saying and I will reply when I can get a word in but if the woman is doing all the talking then I look really bad on the date. What you need to come to realize is that you need to learn to socialize more often. Gain some confidence by speaking your mind or if you want to really impress the guys, take some public speaking courses and learn to communicate with hand gestures as well as knowing when to speak up or interrupt.