Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution

1. Superrats: The New Breed of Sexual Individualists She was aggressive and vulnerable, petulant and infatuated, easy and catty, and ultimately, a young woman scorned. --Chicago Tribune story about Monica Lewinsky at the release of the Starr Report, September 13, 1998 I've been a bad, bad girl I've been careless with a delicate man And it's a sad, sad world When a girl will break a boy just because she can. --Fiona Apple, "Criminal," from Tidal, 1996 When Nancy Friday interviewed Generation-X women for her book Women on Top, she noted that "their voices sound like a new race of women." That is, in describing their sexual fantasies, the young women she sampled felt much less guilt than did their boomer counterparts in her 1973 book, My Secret Garden. Friday calls them "a new race," and I describe them as "a new breed" or, more specifically, "superrats." Although this label may seem insulting at first, I use it with all due respect to refer to an often confounding, sexually savvy breed of young women, who have evolved to become more unstoppable and more prevalent with every generation. Imbued with a large streak of traditionally male (aggressive, self-gratifying) attitudes and behavior, these women illustrate some of the most dramatic sexual changes of the past three decades. These superrats may look different, want a variety of things, come from different backgrounds, have libidos of varying capacities and demands, and confront different obstacles, but they are united by one common trait: the expectation of and insistence on conducting their sex lives on their own terms and with a new degree of openness. When it comes to sharing information about sex and what goes on in their lives, they do ask, and they do tell. As a result, these women are not popular with traditional authority figures. The unromantic label rat indicates that they are widely considered noisome and disruptive, often condemned as pests or even as a social menace, reflecting the gap between their expectations and those of society. The prefix super characterizes the development and pattern of future generations of women. It also describes their evolution toward unprecedented levels of self-preservation and survival despite an often hostile environment and repeated attempts by governing authorities (Republicans, fundamentalists, and the like) to shame and curb them. A greater number than ever before are protected by their imperviousness to excessive self-blame, a time-honored means of keeping previous generations of "rats" under control. This state of "super" evolution, however, is possible only because it builds on the work of other generations, which had progressively higher expectations. In one generation, these superrats have undergone a swifter and more dramatic evolution than anything that Darwin observed on the Galapagos. While not always representing the majority, the superrats are a substantial mainstream force whose influence extends beyond feminist or campus enclaves; they are breaking ranks in the military, the suburbs, housing projects, college campuses, and churches. Yet they commonly are not distinguished by any particular color scheme or style of clothes. They may or may not like jazz, wear clothes made of natural fibers, or speak with an alluring foreign accent. Instead of distracting you with their sexiness like a costumed Ana's Nin or a Salome discarding seven veils or a lude-popping Diane Keaton looking for Mr. Goodbar, they are more likely to look like (and be) you or your stepsister or daughter or girlfriend or administrative assistant. And thus they are often difficult to classify. Indeed, much of what makes a superrat is in the eye of the beholder. Most superrats aren't interested in rigid classifications and ironclad ideologies but are more concerned about what they do than how thKamen, Paula is the author of 'Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution' with ISBN 9780767910002 and ISBN 0767910001.