I like confident women. A confident woman can be strong when she needs to be, and soft at other times. Being strong all the time may be an overcompensation. If a man is intimidated by a confident woman, that's his issue, not yours.

So - are you equating strength with confidence? Maybe us dudes can answer better if you define these words a little more.

In my experience, a good match is really rare, so if someone retreats, I assume they just felt it wasn't a match.

How do you mean strong? If someone is intelligent this is an asset. If they are aggressive this means that they are driven and want power, power gets capital and capital can buy things. If a woman is passive aggressive can bee seen a deceitful. There are a lot of factors that come into play it is hard to just say. Some woman carry authority better than others. Just the example of Diane Sawyer she is strong but shows vulnerability. Roseanne Barr just intimidatingly aggressive. Think it just depends how the woman is perceived.

I can say that personally I prefer women who have a strong sense of self and a high level of confidence. People like that tend to be more interesting to me and challenge my world view. I find engaging on an intellectual level exciting when my partner is capable of making me rethink my position.

Actually, I find it refreshing to find a confident woman who has no problem telling me she's attracted. Probably because that happens so rarely to me.