Why do women target unavailable men?

We all know one of them. A woman who targets unavailable men. No, I don't mean emotionally unavailable men. I mean married, engaged or taken men. I've seen a lot of my friends become stressed over the thought that their partner was cheating on her, most of the time it was paranoia.
So I've put my little brain into motion and researched some articles on this very subject.

What kind of woman targets unavailable men and why?

One woman claimed that she liked the commitment free relationship. She left the moment the man became clingy and wanted to leave his partner. She liked the secrecy of it. The fact that she could be caught at any moment and that it was taboo.

She stated that the allure of an unavailable man was:

1) He's exactly that...unavailable. Women always want what they can't have or as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.

2) It's a thrill to keep it secret from anyone and everyone.

So perhaps, it's not to do with the man at all but the thought of secret affairs. It sounds like the above woman doesn't want to "steal" the man but use him. Isn't this what men do to women? Play the game?
The phrase, "Hate the game not the player" seems to come into play here.

Another article found states that there were reasons for a woman to love unavailable men. Some of the reasons are listed below.

• Reminder of our first love. It's a known fact that we are always attracted to people who remind us of our first love.
• Looking for the happy ending. Most women choose unavailable partners in order to recreate the past and change the ending.
• Miscalculations. Some women may not even know that the man they've fallen for is actually unavailable (as you may know, men aren't always faithful and have been known to lie about their relationship status). But then, these women may, out of stubbornness or the fact that they have become dependent on this man, refuse to give up and move on...instead creating a competition against the girlfriend for the man.
• Unrequited love. Certain women only fall in love with the man of their dreams. Since no man actually exists, women project their fantasies onto someone and when they see what they want in that someone, they begin to think that man is the man of their dreams. Unavailable men are a target for these women since these men never really let anyone get to know them and so these women can fantasise that this man is really the man she wants him to be.
• Excitement. Chasing after someone who is unavailable can be exciting. The adrenaline pumps and boosts a woman's libido. Romance addicts often go after unavailable men because they are addicted to the chase.

Female participants in an Oklahoma State University study were all shown a photograph of a man they were told matched their personal preferences in a partner. Half the group were told that the guy was single and half were told that he was in a current romantic relationship.

Results: A whopping 90% of women said they'd pursue Unavailable Dude, while only 59% were interested in the same guy when they thought he was single.
The two social psychologists who conducted this study began to wonder whether women prefer attached men because they're regarded as having been "pre-screened".

Miranda from Sex and the City stated that "If a man is over 30 and single, there's something wrong with him". Did she have it right? If a man was still single and looking for a girlfriend, was there a reason that no other girlfriend wanted to keep him? There has to be something wrong if he doesn't have a girlfriend clinging onto him, right?

So in conclusion, I believe that not all women are looking to steal your man, maybe they just want the secret affair to feel sexy again? They want the attention because they aren't getting it anywhere else.

On the other hand, they could also be wanting to find that man that seems perfect. The man that has a girlfriend because he is a catch and they want that for themselves.

I don't condone what these women are doing at all but maybe this is a look into why they do it and/or how you can see when a woman is hunting for your man.

Candy