Boys Club

"She was just seventeen, and you know what I mean..."
No, Sir Paul, I am not exactly sure what you mean. What precisely do you mean? She is younger than the age of consent, and therefore, if you know what I mean, this would make you guilty of a crime. This is the kind of questions that have been plaguing me over the past month or so. The guy in this song, even if it is a persona created by Sir Paul, has some issues about women. To wit: "Well she looked at me, and I, I could see, That before too long I'd fall in love with her."
Dude, she was just looking at you. This is by no means a basis for a relationship. It is all in your mind. Women, young girls, people in general tend to look at one another. This is not some tacit suggestion of interest or enthusiasm. How about introducing yourself first? Get to know them before you decide that you will "never dance with another."
It got worse when I heard Bruce Springsteen singing about Fire. "I'm holding you close, you just say 'no.'" I don't care if you are the Boss, you're not the Boss of her. When she says "no," she means "no." And how does Mister Springsteen respond? "You say you don't like it, But girl I know you're a liar." Apparently, to hear him tell it anyway, when they kiss there's fire.
Well, that may be well and good if it happens to be a mutual fire and it is between consenting individuals of similar age. But Bruce goes on: "You say you don't like it, But girl I know you're a liar." She's a liar? You're delusional. You're also probably guilty of assault. Still, this is the language of youthful yearning and lust. Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen are not the only purveyors of such macho assertions. It's rock and roll, after all. 
And yet it makes me aware of just how far we still have to go. Toward the end of Fire, Springsteen evokes the names of Romeo and Juliet as well as Samson and Delilah. I wondered if William Shakespeare was any more sensitive to the struggle of men and women. Juliet was clever enough to pretend to be dead at first, but dumb old Romeo had to go and kill himself for real, causing his lady love to follow his lead when she woke up. Then there's Othello, who is stupid enough to take Iago's word about his wife's infidelity so he ends up strangling her for no good reason, except that he is a man and can't imagine how he might deal with trouble in his personal life without taking a life. 
And don't even get me started about the Marx Brothers.