Do girls really like sensitive guys?

There's this kid down my block (he just turned 15) and I constantly see girls from our high school and even college flirting with him. He's a ballet dancer so I'll say he's semi-muscular/athletic but his hair is down to his waist and he looks completely like a girl (I thought he was when I first saw him). He's very soft spoken, he likes opera and shopping, and he's a "sensitive, shy, quiet, innocent, nice guy." (Ironically, he's not gay.) He's constantly surrounded by women who all seem to want to date him (some say they just want to have with him). One of my sisters said it was y that he was kind of "child-like" in the face and it made her like want to mother him or something. Another girl said it was because he this "tortured soul" thing going on (because EVERYONE on our block knows he's got a sucky background on the family department) but even girls who aren't from our neighborhood says he has the tortured soul thing. I don't get it. Do women like men that they can "nurture" or "save?"