The Second Coming Sex and the Next Generation's Fight Over Its Future

By: Carter Sherman

Published by Simon and Schuster, 2025-06-24

<b>A <i>NEW YORKER</i> BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK PICK<br> <br><b>Equal parts investigative reporting and cultural criticism,<i> </i>this is a look at the sex lives of young adults in post-Roe v. Wade, post-#MeToo America—and how the challenges they face are harbingers of what’s coming for the rest of us.</b></b><br><br>As a college student, award-winning journalist Carter Sherman, along with several members of her sorority, was interviewed by a writer looking for salacious details about their sex lives. But the sex the girls were having—or the lack thereof—seemed disappointing, and their stories didn’t make the book’s final cut. A decade later, young Americans are having less sex than past generations, and the sex they <i>are </i>having is infinitely more complicated. Sherman, who has spent years traveling the country reporting on gender and sexuality, wanted to find out why. <br> <br>Based on more than one hundred interviews with teenagers and young adults, activists, and experts, <i>The Second Coming </i>reveals how (mis)education, the internet, and politics have not only reshaped relationships but also unleashed a nationwide power struggle over the future of sex. From abortion clinics crowded with young patients, to “Dating with Dignity” seminars at the National Pro-Life Summit, to school board battles over what students should read, think, and feel, we meet folks from both sides of the aisle who are well-informed, empowered, and active (even if not always sexually). And as measures are taken to limit Americans’ access to rights and resources, they are fighting back.<br> <br>In the tradition of Rebecca Traister and Lisa Taddeo, <i>The Second Coming</i> explores how the ballot box has infiltrated the bedroom, and the breaking point as a nation we’ve reached as a result.