Amelia Hill in New York reports on a new club run by sexual liberation gurus who are ready to spread the word in Britain
Manhattan's women find power in sex
Who thought feminism still had the power to be so controversial?
But the new wave of girl power, due to arrive on British shores next February, claims to speak for the new generation of young, straight professional women who believe they have been alienated by more conventional feminist arguments.
'Look around you,' said Melinda Gallagher, president and co-founder of Cake, a group that has taken on the battle of transforming attitudes towards women's sexuality.
'The myth that female sexuality belongs in the bedroom and is centered around pleasuring men is everywhere in mainstream society but it doesn't reflect what the young women of today are really talking about.
'Women are changing and we're right on the cusp of some big changes. The battles fought by feminism in the past have culminated in this moment,' she added. 'Our generation is stepping up and demanding its freedom just like previous generations did before us.'
Cake was born in July in a SoHo loft after Gallagher, who has a master's degree from New York University, Emily Kramer, a graduate of Columbia University, and Matthew Kramer, a former executive for MTV, decided to take the battle for equality back into the field.
The aim of Cake is to prove that women can be as aggressive and forceful in their sexuality as men; enjoying watching and participating in pornography and sex shows such as stripping just as lustfully as the other half of the population.
'Over one-fifth of pornography sold, is sold to women,' said Matthew Kramer. 'But society still deals very harshly with females who flaunt their sexuality in a confident, free way. Women can play at being forward but when the lights go down, they are expected to cede to men, male lusts and male pleasures.'
Cake will arrive in London next February, when the group hosts the launch party for GQ magazine's Sex: Handbook .
'We're not about man-bashing,' added Emily Kramer. 'Men are half of the equation and there can't be change without them, and we're not just trying to move the power dynamic: this isn't about women being on top but about where we get our assumptions about female sexuality from and whether they still represent us.'
'We realized that there was this trend on the streets that wasn't being reflected outside the white-collar world of academia,' said Gallagher. 'Women are examining the images of sexuality they see around them and realizing it doesn't add up for them.
'Cake is the result of everything feminism has built up to so far,' she added. 'It's being played out by the new generation of women and we're just giving them a stage.'