Who's Still Afraid of Katie Roiphe?

I first met Katie Roiphe in the spring of 1995 while I was in college. I fell asleep in my best friend's dorm on her roommate's bed and woke up with Katie's jacket on the floor. She was lying next to me, her spine rubbing against my back while I was sleeping. So when I leaned over and grabbed her in book form, I immediately fell in love with The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus. Roiphe described the world that I inhabited, and offered smart if unsettling conclusions. Until that point I envied other generations for having their share of Susan Sontags, Angela Davises, and Mary McCarthys, my generation lacked a voice. Marked as "Generation X" or some other derogatory adjective that described us as blah, we paled in comparison to the other generations. Roiphe could be our salvation, but because she questioned the date rape crisis, she was banished. Roiphe's new collection of essays, In Praise of Messy Lives, could be one last shot for a generation to finally have its voice heard.