Hunter or hunted?

Now, I am convinced that one of the best places to study human socio-sexuality is the arts, music in particular. You can learn a lot from the various ways men think about their approach to women as it is unintentionally revealed in their art. Are they reverential, are they contemptuous, are they masterful, or are they fearful?

Consider the case of Joe Jonas. A Disney child star, handsome, but not particularly masculine, he is rich and famous, but has been regarded as somewhat of a joke musically. But he doesn't exactly lack confidence.



Hugely catchy song, obviously. After Prince's death, I talked to one of the members of Psykosonik and we both commented on how it was recognizable as an instahit even before it got to the big chorus. As for Jonas, he's obviously accustomed to attention and unlike a Robert Smith (Gamma) or Ricky Martin (Lambda), he's neither uncomfortable nor distracted when surrounded by pretty women in bikinis. (Watch a Ricky Martin video sometime, given his Latin background, it's remarkable that women ever thought he was on the market, so to speak.)

Now consider the lyrics.

See you walking 'round like it's a funeral
Not so serious, girl; why those feet cold?
We just getting started; don't you tip toe, tip toe

He's not waiting for the girl to notice him, he's approaching her, challenging her, and negging her.

Waste time with a masterpiece, don't waste time with a masterpiece (huh!)
You should be rolling with me, you should be rolling with me (ah)
You're a real life fantasy, you're a real life fantasy (huh!)
But you're moving so carefully; let's start living dangerously

He's still challenging her, and while he's complimentary, he's pushing her and daring her to go beyond her boundaries. Women love to be pushed and hate to be considered sticks-in-the-mud, so the juxstaposition of carefully with dangerously is masterful.

Talk to me, baby
I'm going blind from this sweet, sweet craving, whoa
Let's lose our minds and go fucking crazy
Ah ya ya ya ya I keep on hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean

Here he's giving her the excuse to cut loose and abandon her anti-slut defenses. Notice that he doesn't hide his attaction to her or play it cool. This is a straight-up frontal assault.

Walk for me, baby
I'll be Diddy, you'll be Naomi, whoa
Let's lose our minds and go fucking crazy
Ah ya ya ya ya I keep on hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean

Walk for, not walk with. He then presents an analogy in which he is in charge and she is submissive to him. 

God damn
See you licking frosting from your own hands
Want another taste, I'm begging, "Yes, ma'am."
I'm tired of all this candy on the dry land, dry land

More compliments, but they're crass and implicitly sexual. He claims to be begging, but really, he's demanding and implying that she's offering it to him, and contrasting her to all the women he's had before, so many that he's tired of them. Furthermore, the dry land contrast suggests that she is more than a little bit eager to pursue "cake by the ocean", which of course means sex on the beach.

This song is so successfully psychosexually provocative that it should be no surprise that two women were involved in writing and recording it. And as a thought experiment, now compare it to the way in which men engage with women in the average science fiction novel, in which a man furiously respects a woman until, appropos of nothing, she abruptly decides to force her way past his respect and announce her true love for him.