Possibly...but w/ intimacy comes rejection, sometimes. If you're rejected by someone w/ whom you've never been intimate, then it doesn't hurt quite so bad. But I see your point!

I don't have a problem flirting with boys I am interested in, but sometimes I do flirty with guys I am not interested in... just to amuse myself, sort of for sport.

I know it's not nice, but it's fun - and good practice!

With me it's a fear of rejection, not of intimacy..

I think it's easier for me to flirt with someone I'm not necessarily interested in because I'm not worried about what they're going to think about it. When I am interested in someone their reaction to my flirting actually means something to me, so I get scared that the reaction might not be the one I want.

At least you feel bad about it.

I know a woman who will flirt with any man in a bar who will pay her attention and buy her drinks, even when she knows that she has NO interest in them. But she doesn't see much wrong with the activity. They think she's serious, she knows she's not. She has even let one of them give her too extravagant gifts. Unfortunately, she doesn't listen to any of her friends on teh subject.

I don't see anything wrong with it until it gets to leading the other person on. If both parties know what's going on, it's all harmless.