'Cause girls like you
Run around with guys like me
'Til sundown, when I come through
I need a girl like you, yeah yeah’
What do men want when it comes to t he opposite sex? If Maroon 5’s new pop hit Girls Like You is anything to go, guys want girls that overlook their childish drunken behaviour, fight all the time and then make up to break up.
It’s the crazy girl, the one that spices it up, as Cardi B raps.
Although they might not admit it, are guys secretly attracted to “a lady on the street but a freak in the bed”?
Dating guru Steve Santagati has quite the reputation of being a lady’s man - Gerard Butler’s character in 2009 movie The Ugly Truth was based on him. He has a theory in why nice girls never seem to get the guy.
The author of The MANual: A True Bad Boy Explains How Men Think, Date, and Mate - and What Women Can Do to Come Out on Top says men love bad girls.
"I teach women how to be really bad, how to be naughty, so that you're not on the waiting end for guys, but you're on the proactive end.
“Men respond well to naughty girls. It keeps them guessing," he said during an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Even online portal Ask Men tend to agree with Santagati, noting that bad girls are fun, naughty and crave sex almost as much as men do.
It could also explain the attraction to girls like Cardi B and Nicki Minaj. Both female rappers have been forthcoming about their very active sex lives.
Minaj admitted that she enjoys having sex more than once a night in her new track Barbie Tingz.
Cardi regularly shares posts with her fans about her and hubby Offset’s bedroom antics, sometimes bordering on the downright nasty. The Bodak Yellow rapper posted a video on Instagram Stories appearing to show herself and Offset engaging in a sexual act.
Balsy and in your face, Nicki Minaj is the assertive type that takes control. Picture: AP
In his book, Santagati shares some insight into how the male psyche works: “Bait us with your body, then keep us with your brains.”
Santagati’s way of thinking and his comments have often been met with disdain from members of the opposite sex. Maybe rightly so; he’s been labelled a misogynist, chauvinistic and anti-feminist.
Relationship coach Kas Naidoo says that during her many years of experience, she’s found that when it comes to what a “real” man wants, his needs are pretty simple. And it has nothing to do with a badass girl dancing in the club for dollar bills.
“A real man has a lot to offer a woman and he wants to feel that his woman respects him,” she noted.
“Showing respect does not mean you have to gush false compliments. A real man will see right through that. A quality woman wants to be respected and recognised for who she is. So does a real man.”
Like Santagati, Naidoo also mentions desire and wanting to be desired. However, her reasoning stems from a mutual exchange of energy. “When it comes down to basics, a real man wants what any of us desire - he wants passion and excitement,” she concluded.