People might wonder if, after some 20 years of youth ministry work, I could be surprised. But a recent article in Rolling Stone took me back a few steps. The article is one in what seems to be an ever-growing body of evidence that adolescent and post-adolescent women are becoming more sexually aggressive… and I mean really aggressive. The article details the Caligula-like party scene at Duke University with disturbing detail, all in reference to the politically charged Lacrosse Team (of all things).

 And apparently, the phenomenon is not isolated to Blue Devil territory. I spoke recently with a therapist working primarily with adolescent women who told me of the statistical rise of masturbation among women, a sexual activity traditionally dominated by men. Women, she said, have begun to grow into their sexuality in a decidedly male fashion. This explanation fit all too well into at least one conversation I had this last semester with a male student who told me about the bar scene in my own college town where drunken women would offer men an opportunity to watch while she and a female partner “made out.”

I distinctly remember having a conversation at a youth ministry conference some ten years ago when the internet was just making porn readily available to youth. It was hypothesized that the renewed objectification of women in the porn industry would result in a revived feminist reaction that would make the ‘60’s look like a pajama party pillow fight. Read more