Is the young generation more misogynistic and more anti-gay...?

[kentuck]

..than previous generations going back to the 1960's?

Just from my observations, I tend to think they may be? The young males tend to physically intimidate females from time to time. And this young kid at Rutgers that took his life because he was caught in a gay relationship is perhaps not just a rare happening? There may be intimidation and a social stigma growing that we are not aware of?

Obviously, we have made a lot of progress over the last few decades but each generation brings its own ideas and thoughts to the forefront. Any ideas on this subject?

[valerief]

1. They're the Fox generation. nt

[antigone382]

44. Most of us get our news from the Daily Show...

...which presents its own set of issues, but just thought I'd put that out there.

I have experienced or witnessed bigotry of all kinds among my generation, and I've seen the most extreme perspectives put on display for their shock value, but I'd say it's generally far less than what came before.

[cyr330]

2. In short. . .

No. Although Fox News & the Tea Party, along with the lame stream media may have you think otherwise.

[slackmaster]

3. Rap music is the cause

Just as rock was the cause of youthful indiscretions of earlier times.





























;-)

[Myrina]

4. I really think its a side effect of the Bush Years ...

.... our culture turned 'macho' with Chimpy swaggering around his farm, daring terrorists to 'bring it on', that idiot shouting at Prez O during the SOTU speech ... and media generally glorifying idiots like Extreme Cagefighters, WWE's, gangsta thug life, etc etc ... not to mention that when people's standard of living/self image is undermined by financial/career stress, they're more likely to act out with misplaced aggression (kicking the dog, as it were) to make themselves feel "more manly".


Just my jumbled .02

[flvegan]

5. More misogynistic? I do think so.

More anti-gay? That I don't know. My "barometer" likes to think that my generation as well as the one that follows it is far more open minded and tolerant (God, I hate that word in this subject), but I may be very, very wrong and naive. I DO think we're hearing more about these incidents against LGBT folks though, thanks to the internet, etc.

[Shell Beau]

8. I agree with you. I think people my age and younger

are definitley more accepting. But that of course doesn't mean there aren't assholes still out there.

[uncommon]

9. The two generally go hand in hand.

And I think there is a lot more anti-woman, anti-gay attitude in 20-somethings and younger than would be expected.

[Shell Beau]

14. I disagree. I could be wrong, but even here in the south

I see so much more acceptance. And I think if it is more acceptable here (Bible-belt), then it would likely be the same elsewhere. Of course that doesn't mean there isn't a lot I don't see. I am not gay, so I can't answer that with full honesty. Just from what I observe, I think we will continue to move forward. Slowly but surely.

[uncommon]

29. I see more misogyny than

negative attitudes towards GLBTQ people, which is surprising, but I do see it.

[Shell Beau]

38. Since I am a woman and not a gay woman, I can only

really say that I don't see lots of negative attitudes toward gay people from my generation. I also can't say I've experienced any misogynistic attitudes toward me from my generation either. I have from older men though. Especially in the business I work in. It is a mostly an older male business, and they don't like to "play" with the women. Scared I think. But I am seeing this die out some. I hope it is anyway. Now, to get a full perspective, I think we'd have to hear from gay people about how the younger generations treat them. I mean, we see this poor guy who jumped to his death because of some assholes. So they are definitely still out there, but I think they are becoming fewer. At least I hope so. And I will also go one step further and say that I believe women tend to be more accepting of gay people. I could be wrong again, and that is not intended as a slam at men, it is just my observation.

[Kalyke]

33. I think society is more misogynistic, too.

But I do think there is far more tolerance toward the LGBT community.

I sometimes feel women can be thrown under the bus six different ways from Sunday and the media ne'er peeps, but they will if race, religion or sexual choice is involved (i.e. Mel Gibson. The media ranted on and on about his racism, but rarely said a word about how he treated his wife/girlfriend and the derogatory names he called her).

[Dawson Leery]

6. Consider Mr. Ravi and Ms. Wei's background.

India and China are no bastions of liberalism.
This is not the only consideration, most certainly it is one of several possible factors.

[mitchum]

7. Their sense of aesthetics is awful, but I do not think that they are more...

misogynist and anti-gay. Many are just all around sociopathic and don't seem to specifically discriminate.

[HuckleB]

10. No, and no.

However, all generations have fallen into the mode of screaming, hating and despising others, in mimicry of the media. Thus, the struggles of kids to "fit in," in some scenarios become even more ugly, as they mimic the culture around them.

[marmar]

11. No.

Far less so. There are clearly still major issues, but acceptance of LGBTs among the "young generation" is higher than among any other group.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. I don't think so

We have legal gay marriage in Massachusetts, for example. It should be across the entire country - but 30 years ago it didn't exist anywhere in the US, and was completely unthinkable. Progress is much slower than I'd like, but I do think it is still going on.

[G_j]

13. Young Men More Sexist Than Their Fathers?

http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/are-young-men-more-sexist-than-their-fathers/

Esquire Magazine has released a new survey of American men born in 1960 and 1990.
The survey compares attitudes on everything from politics to which decade produced the best music to what feature is most attractive in a woman. The results suggest the sexism portrayed in the popular show Mad Men may be more rampant amongst millenials than those born the year AMC's fictional ad execs began their 5th Avenue reign.

According to the survey released Thursday, more 20 year-old men -- about 20% as compared to 14% of their older counterparts -- would rather their wives stay at home and take care of the children than maintain a separate career outside of the home. Almost as striking is the assertion that only about 47% of the younger men, as compared to 55% of 50 year-olds, believe their female partner "should do whatever she wants" in making the choice to work or stay at home. And despite efforts of the women's movement to degender caretaking roles, only 1% of 20-year-old men and 3% of older respondents would choose to stay at home while their wife brings in the primary income.

What's behind the younger generation's reversion to traditional gender roles? Perhaps watching their mothers struggle with the unreasonable demand of maintaining the role of full-time caretaker and full-time employee makes them less willing to impose such stress on their partner. Or perhaps it's a result of naïveté. Young men who have yet to enter the workforce and start families are less wise to the reality that this lifestyle often requires two incomes to sustain. More worrying, these attitudes could suggest kids born in the 1990's have fallen prey to increasingly conservative portrayals of women in the media, missing shows such as Maude and Murphy Brown in favor of Desperate Housewives and a never-ending diet of reality shows that hype the worst of gender roles for men and women.

http://www.esquire.com/features/facts-about-men-1010?click=pp

[dogday]

15. My daughter joined the gay/straight alliance group at her high school

even though she is not gay, she wants to understand what gays go through in the life. I was so proud of her for doing that. I believe I might of raised her right...

[old mark]

16. Not the ones I know, but the only younger people I really know are

those in my family, who have gay relatives and mostly are women themselves...

Interesting question, though-I had pretty much taken for granted that you young people were way ahead of us old geezers on that stuff...


mark

[JHB]

17. I think what you're seeing there is more the result of ...

...greater "social permission" to act crude and stupid. These days boorishness is rewared far more than being a "class act".

Yes, there's backlash to the progress that's been made, but it's also the younger groups that have grown up with that progress as the norm rather than as some sort of radical change to be battled against. That's a situation that will produce more and more-visible clashes than when the whole of society did the intimidation.

[bluethruandthru]

18. I haven't seen it with my daughters and their friends.

In fact, I think it's just the opposite - especially when it comes to gay friends, family, etc. I think a lot of kids now are very comfortable with it in a way my generation wasn't. Seeing gay characters on tv shows and in movies really helps as does musicians and athletes who have come out publicly. I'm proud of how accepting my kids and their friends are...and I don't think they're unique in this.

[RZM]

19. I tend to think not

I try to avoid casting new generations as too different from preceding ones or for that matter, as generations being monolithic in any way at all. A wise historian once told me that for a good example of what people looked/dressed like in the late 60s, one should not look at Woodstock but instead at the Julie Nixon-David Eisenhower wedding :) I think the same is true on a lot of levels for the 60s/early 70s generation, especially with music. When people think back to that time, they remember great stuff like the Beatles and Stones, but for every Rolling Stones there were probably about 20 Strawberry Alarm Clocks and Fifth Dimensions. However, there certainly ARE identifiable trends in any generation. The late, great Tony Judt has made a good case that the West German generation that came of age in the 1960s thoroughly rejected what their parents had stood for in just about every way.

I would guess that attitudes toward homosexuality are moving way more towards tolerance than not with 'Generation Y' and whatever is following it. While I very much feel for the young Rutgers student and his family, I don't think that what happened it's really indicative of any specific trend. There are always more than enough mean-spirited people to go around in any generation. In fact, the first thing I thought of when I read the story last night is how it's probably much more common for meanies in dorms to surreptitiously record students masturbating and posting that online than recording actual sex. What happened is a tragedy no matter how you slice it, but I doubt it says a whole lot about any generation.

[stopbush]

20. Not from what I've seen. Quite the opposite.

Kids today are much more in tune with what constitutes racism and sexism than were previous generations. They simply won't abide the kind of crap we all thought was normal when we were growing up.

Both of my kids have plenty of friends from minorities. They really don't see gender, skin color, nationality or race. They look at kids as kids. They still see distinctions between jocks and non-jocks, bullies and non-bullies, etc, but that cuts across the board when it comes to race.

On edit: I'd be interested to know how many posters in this thread who are disparaging today's kids have kids themselves.

[pampango]

21. I think they are much less misogynisitc and anti-gay. Those types are still out there, but not

to the same extent as my generation.

[gkhouston]

22. In general, no. But the ones who are that way are becoming more agressive about

it, perhaps because they sense they're in the minority.

[Lilith Velkor]

26. Bingo n/t

[ecstatic]

23. No. His roommate was just an immature asshole nt

[EFerrari]

24. No. When the youth vote turns out, both issues benefit

greatly from their support.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

25. I'm gonna say just the opposite

If America were more homophobic and misgynist stories like this wouldn't make the news nor generate outrage.

Our culture is more sensitive to these tragedies and that's a good thing.

[seabeyond]

27. i think that they are more misogyny than my generation, maybe not generations

before that. i think that my generation was getting a pretty good balance on it and then we took a huge step back. i think over the last decade all the 'sims have suffered. i have also read a study the younger generation has a lower ability for empathy.

but i find the question very intersting now i am interested if there has been any studies.

[Hannah Bell]

28. no; no.

[Toucano]

30. Most young people are MORE tolerant and less misogynistic. But there are

exceptional cases of individuals lacking empathy.

Overall, I think we have a cultural crisis of empathy. For the poor, the disabled, anyone who's different.

[lumberjack_jeff]

31. No. My kids generation is more gay tolerant than mine was.

Misogynist? Some definitions might be in order.

[Posteritatis]

32. Did young males not physically intimidate females from time to time in the 60s? (nt)

[DefenseLawyer]

34. This myth that everyone was tolerant in the 60's is fucking insane

Seriously.

[Odin2005]

40. The Boomers have always thought they are the center of the universe.

[treestar]

35. No, IMO they are more accepting

Maybe that is why those who don't accept things stand out.

They grew up with much more variation than baby boomers, who lived in the standard family of the 50s/60s and under conditions where nothing was accepted and women stayed home.

The next generation did not have that conditioning.

[fishbulb703]

36. Absolutely not.

[Uzybone]

37. Of course not.

Just how out of touch does one have to be to think that?

[Odin2005]

39. Absolutely NOT. We Millennials are the most socially liberal generation in US history.

Most of the bigots I run into are Boomers.

[TonyMontana]

41. LOL

This has to be the most absurd OP I've seen yet. And to see some replies actually agreeing with it!

:rofl:

[Johonny]

45. pretty much

just about any poll you see (http://www.gallup.com/poll/5341/acceptance-homosexuality-youth-movement.aspx,http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07053003.html) shows that Americas youth are the most accepting of gays than any other age group. The Op Ed writer better have more than a few anecdotal stories to show otherwise because the concept as written nowhere near tells the correct story.

[Mimosa]

42. No. n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

43. gays have gotten a lot more visible, and therefore the hatred is more visible too

overall homophobia is less but it is more visible