Let me summarize both, but first let’s clarify terms: Gen Xers were born between 1964 and 1980. In a grossly generalized way, they are seen as a self-sufficient, rebellious generation so I guess it’s fitting that Gen X has reached midlife with an upheaval.
The first article suggests, “Every generation has its burdens. The particular plight of Gen X is to have grown up in one world only to hit middle age in a strange new land. It’s as if they were making candlesticks when electricity came in. The market value of their skills plummeted…If you entered media or image-making in the ’90s — magazine publishing, newspaper journalism, photography, graphic design, advertising, music, film, TV — there’s a good chance that you are now doing something else for work. That’s because those industries have shrunk or transformed themselves radically, shutting out those whose skills were once in high demand.”
So, at a time when people are often at their career peak, they’re having to reinvent themselves. And, that’s even before AI has recently come along and made so many knowledge workers and creatives obsolete. The article continues, “The shedding of jobs and upending of longstanding business models have come at a bad time for Gen X-ers. The cost of living has skyrocketed, especially in coastal cities, and the burdens of mortgages, children’s college tuition and elder care can be heaviest in middle age. Retirement isn’t that far off, theoretically — but Gen X-ers are less secure financially than baby boomers and lack sufficient retirement savings, according to recent surveys.”
Enough of that depressing news. We’re on to the second article entitled “Why Gen X Women Are Having the Best Sex,” a very personal account by Mirielle Silcoff, but one that captures the cultural zeitgeist of “Babygirl,” “All Fours,” and “I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself.”
Mirielle writes, “In the beginning I thought it was just my own cool and unusual story. Returning to plentiful sex in my late 40s felt weirdly intuitive, like hearing an old favorite song and finding that of course I still knew all the words. There were new frills — I’d cook decadent meals, buy absurd lingerie, pretend that I always had Japanese whiskey hanging around — but I also found that I was better at sex, and that this was because I was older. I had fewer inhibitions, fewer hangups and more self-love than I did as a taut 24-year-old. And the culture of sex in the 2020s felt more exploratory, more forgiving. The date rapes and creepy professors that filled my 1990s were gone; the workplace harassment and idiotic full Brazilians that peppered my early 2000s were over. The fear of pregnancy was finished, as was the pressure to land a partner to make babies with. Everything that remained felt like a privilege: There was desire, and there was the ability to fulfill it.”
Who knows? Maybe Gen X is the “last sexy generation,” as academic Jean Twenge called them. Whereas sexual activity among those 18 to 40 has dropped by 30% compared to comparably aged young people a quarter-century ago and is down with every age group, the generation with the least decline is Gen Xers.
Mirielle says, “Many women in middle age and beyond are now finding their sexual voice, experimenting and claiming the right to be satisfied. This is what I see around me. These women enjoy the most beautiful spoils of aging — things like caring less about social standards that they no longer have use for, or being more comfortable in their bodies precisely because they have lived in them for so long. It would be a shame if these benefits turned out to be nothing more than a temporary sweet spot that only one small generation lucked its way into. It is not simply about stretching the mores of youth. It can hold a much deeper meaning: an acceptance that the chapters of life have, over the past few decades, been reshuffled, and that there are more chapters than there used to be.”
So, there you go, Gen X, your career prospects may be poorer than you expected, but you’re enjoying one of the last truly free gifts in the world: good sex.
-Chip