Could be and I think so. Haven't lived in another country/had experience enough of another culture so can only speak to the situation in Australia. One thing thou Australia doesn't really have a culture of approaching strangers. i.e. People having a chat in a public space. Most are actually wary of having strangers randomly talk to them. Therefore for men it can be difficult initiating contact with women. The only socially designated place really are pubs and clubs. So if you can cut through the noise it is easier for those types of people. The quit, reserved and not big drinker types will no doubt find it harder.
Funny you say this.
Last Friday, me and a few friends were on the tram and talking about uni and stuff. Some random dude started talking to us about our courses right out of the blue. After a few awkward nodding of the head and "yes, yep, yeah", he finally moved onto some kids that were sitting next to him. After that it was some lady that he offered his seat to. After that it was 2 chicks who were carrying luggage, and he asked them where they were going. TBF to him, the chick was an outright bitch and told her friend to go sit on the seats on the other side of the tram. Overheard his conversation saying that he was a Queenslander, where apparently it's normal to strike up conversations with randoms.
Anyway, after his awkward as **** conversation with the 2 girls, he told us to "huddle in" and said this: "Hey, huddle in guys huddle in, you know what's the secret to getting a ****? It's all a numbers game. So if you have a 1 in 100 chance of ******* a chick, then just ask 100 girls..."
Thank god it was actually our stop, we thanked him for the advice and left.