In spite of what you might think from teen-empowerment rhetoric for young women to resist the pressure to have sex when their skeeevy-ass boyfriends ask them to "proove their love" (does this even happen anymore? feels to 1950s...) it's a lot less socially acceptible for men to decline the opportunity than it is for women.

The stereotypical sexual dynamic we grow up with is that men are the always ready and eager to get down, and women decide rather like old hellenic godesses when to drop manna (nanna) from heaven upon us. Thus it's expected that women decline, while men are assumed to be ever-hungry. Perhaps this is another sign of my outlandish nature, but I generally don't think my experience matches this template.

Within my social world (which is admittedly liberal, not to mention artsy-fartsy), there's little traditional male sexual aggression. By aggression I mean really initative-taking, and one might use the term "romantic advances," but I think aggression is a better word because it's dirtier, more direct, and cuts closer to the power-dynamics that actually come into play.

Something else I find interesting -- and feel is somehow related -- is the surging presence of perfume and beauty products for men. People are often quick to lump this in with the "Metrosexual" trend, but if you actually look at what's being pitched and how, it's Maxim-style (or literally Maxim-branded) products. The demographic is clearly young men, but the manner of the pitch plays directly into the docile male role.

For instance, the new Right Guard Extreme ends with a dazed skydiver being led off by a couple of cheerleaders, with obvious innuendo. The Axe Effect is even more direct, suggesting its users will be the subject of uncontrolable female lust in the elevator at work, a modern role-reversal of ancent "she wants it" quasi-rape fantasies.

Which is not to say that these fantasies are not attractive, because they are. For young men who grew up in places and times where women's rights and respect for women are a foregone conclusion, the scenario in which she takes you seems the least complecated way to get laid. You could chalk this appeal up to sheer laziness, but I think there's something much more complex at work.

Outside the world of mainstream hip-hop, which still celebrates male sexual power (sometimes to the point of misogyny), you don't see many cultural representations presenting the virtue of taking the initiative. There's no model for how this is supposed to go, and in a liberal world where power is a dirty word, inaction and hesitency are the rule.

I don't know whether this is bad or good (it's probably not as simple as that), but I do think that it's something which deserves further inquiry.