To Ask or Not to Ask

So today in my Sociology of Marriage and Family class, we were discussing Gender roles ( this will make sense eventually). Well my teacher like to ask alot of questions- often times they are rhetorical questions. These rhetorical questions throw us off, we are never really sure if he wants us to answer the questions or not... anywho back to the point. He quoted a statistic in our book that stated that of so many college girls (from a southern college) who were questioned- 62% stated that they would never ask a guy out. He asked if this was just a southern thing, or whether it is more extensive.
So my teacher asked us girls, who would ask a guy out. A few girls reaised their hands. I was not one of them.
Do get me wrong, I use to have no problem asking a guy out- high school I went to just about every girl ask dance that I could. Once I hit college, things changed a little bit. Now, I am older, and much less likely to ask a guy out. I pondered on this as the other girls shared why or why not they would ask a guy out.
The answers ranged from "Who cares? It shows the guy that you are interested, and you know if is interested too" to "I am too scared that being to forward would look to desperate or intimidating" I fall close to the last idea.
I am no spring chicken anymore- but I am not an old maid. It is an akward stage (almost junior high akward) at least when it comes to dating. Do I date someone MUCH younger then me? (which means like boys my Brother's age, whom I potential could have babysat, and in some cases did) Or, do I date someone much older then me? (Seriously if you are closer in age to my dad then you are to me, that is just WRONG!) So this is part of my hold back on asking guys out, I am either WAY to old or WAY to young. But The biggest thing is that I am afraid of rejection.

So to the point- I need help! For those of you who are married- which is most of my friends who read this blog- did you ask your now spouse out or did they ask? How would it have felt if it were reversed? Ask your husbands (and I say husbands because most of you are girls) if, when they were single, if they would have preferred that girls be more proactive and ask them out? What do they think of girls who do the asking?
At what point does the asking become desperate, or pathetic? What is your idea or timeframe of when is too soon to call, and when it is a lost cause?

So basically- I am looking for input. I am trying to be bold. I am trying to work up courage. After class today, I realized that I need to do more if I want more to happen ( I know that is kind of obvious, but I just needed the reminder) So I am looking for courage to do what absolutely frightens me right now.

UPDATE- I ASKED! Details later...