LiveWorld Transcripts

Borders.com presents

Paula Kamen
Author of "Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution"

January 29, 2001

Getting it on may be more complicated than we've been lead to believe, but today's young women are more than up to the task. That's the message in Paula Kamen's new book, "Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution," an exploration of modern female sexuality. Read what the author had to say about female Gen-Xers’ attitudes and actions with regards to sex.

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Borders: Welcome to NetCafeLive! Tonight we are chatting with Paula Kamen, author of “Her Way - Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution.” NetCafeLive is presented by Borders, Inc. and the Talk City Marketing Group. Welcome Paula!

Paula Kamen: Thank you very much!

Ruby: How did you decide to write a book on the subject of young women's sexuality?

Paula Kamen: I felt that it was one of the biggest stories of our time that had not been covered. The young women's movement to do sex and relationships more on their own terms has been one of the greatest changes of the last forty years in our society. I wanted to make sure that young women didn't take their rights and choices for granted, especially in times like these.

Opie: Why did you find this particular material so fascinating?

Paula Kamen: First of all, it's about sex, so I don't need to say much more than that. But I noticed that in every generation young women's lives are very different, because they have a whole different range of choices and expectations. And it really fascinated me about what those forces are. Like the women's movement, jobs, education, the information age, religious freedoms…I was very curious to see how young women's unprecedented independence in life affects both their sex lives and relationships. So we come to both from a much stronger place, with a lot more power, and status.

Hermione: So, Paula…what makes you an expert on sex?

Paula Kamen: (laugh) Lots and lots of interviews, statistics…this book is one place where you can find the major sexual research on this generation and how it compares to other generations of the past hundred years. If that doesn't make me an expert, I don't know what does! The book is based on interviews with about 72 Generation X women born in the Sixties and Seventies, along with interviews of more than 90 others to give perspective, like scholars, activists, older women, and young men. It took almost eight years from start to finish. So definitely a project of long-term gratification. It's about sex, but it's a project about extreme long-term gratification.

Sylvia: What was the most surprising thing you learned during your research?

Paula Kamen: About just how open young women are becoming. I was surprised when I would call someone to interview them, they would often ask if all their roommates could sit in and be interviewed. I thought I would get a lot more resistance to people talking about their sex lives. I was also surprised by some other things, such as recent statistics show that about 20 percent of women in their 20s have had a sexual experience with other women. That high frequency surprised me; statistics from ten years ago show much smaller rates. I was also surprised at the numbers of women interviewed who were bisexual and who also had worked as sex workers or prostitutes. So three women out of the 72 had worked as prostitutes or as a stripper. Well, one worked as a stripper. I was also surprised about the high rates of oral sex on women, which are just as common overall as oral sex rates on men. The women have a lot to thank feminism for.

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