Monday, August 04, 2008

Sex IS the City

"Everything we like doing has some kind of thing to do with sex. We like to listen to music - they talk about sex. We like watching movies - they talk about sex...that's why it's in our minds all the time."
-Sex and Young America

Why are we such a sexualized culture?

You know why? I’ll tell you why…

OUR PARENTS!

That’s right. The Gen-X slack-off Baby-Boomers who grew up on Anarchy and Teenage Angst, in an age of Cold War and Riots where life was the moment, so seize it while you can. Where words like race and gender were still war-cries and Thug-Life was real life. GenX-ers were rebels who lived in a time where it was cool to be defiant. Society told them one thing, fashion told them to shove it. So automatically anything their parents said, they did exactly the opposite, like have lots and lots of teenage sex.

Sometimes I feel like I turn on the TV and all I see is sex, sex, sex. Women are sex objects on MTV and the Disney Channel is responsible for more teen sluts than some porno studios can brag about. But then again, in an era where a comic book Batman movie can be a contender for best picture with a supporting actress portraying a female cop (or DA, whatever manly job title she had), I think we’re actually coming along.

The world is changing. GenY-ers are a little different today. We’re the Millennial Kids, our parents fought for freedom and now it’s up to us to enjoy it. So far, we’re more technologically savvy than any generation has ever been, we’re more literate thanks to Harry Potter which suddenly made reading cool along with more challenging young-adult literature, we’re into volunteer work thanks to the music scene getting involved in saving the planet, and 70% of us are college-bound or see college in our futures. We’re seizing the moment, but we’re also looking ahead, and I think that’s a sign of maturity.

The real reason Girls Gone Wild tapes are selling like mad…because middle-aged men are buying them. Damn straight, GenY guys don’t need them because they’re practically in them and go to the colleges anyway. It’s the past-their-time GenX men who make up the majority of child molesters and sexual predators that propagate this sick sex-trade and keep it in business. Looks like the Anarchy-days finally caught up with them and they learned the hard way that when you go against society and live the rebel-loner lifestyle, you’ll eventually find yourself ostracized and, well, alone. So now that Generation X has finally calmed down, they want to get back in and try again? I’m sorry, no you can’t live vicariously through me, seek some counseling for your sick fantasies about having sex with girls young enough to be your daughters, when you probably even have daughters of your own…and I wonder what morals you’re teaching them.

I consider myself pretty laid-back as far as sexuality is concerned. I’m not threatened at all by gays, I know my own sexuality, I’ve got nothing against casual sex but also nothing against meaningful relationships. And c’mon I mean is it so wrong to ask Last-Gen-Men to please date within their own age-category? 5 years, give or take? Quit seducing young women already!

I think society puts an unreasonable amount of pressure on men to carry the weight of the world, when really that’s just also last generations morals talking about things that we just don’t find attractive anymore. Millennial girls take care of themselves, like guys who are flawed, and both like to have a good time as well as consider the long-run. I’m not even that liberal, there’s got to be a slew of others who think exactly like me.

Unfortunately, the “good time” seems to be all that last-gen was concerned about, and now look what they’ve taught us. But as the Indie Scene is replacing Hip-hop and R&B and more white rappers like Flobots are actually singing about things like change, we’re getting away from the hateful angst and trading it in for EmoRock which ironically seems to make something positive out of a negative because it’s suddenly cool to be negative, and hey cool is cool. Can’t argue with that.

I think we’re getting better. The “attractive male” in most magazines is starting to be portrayed as a cool-kid type, likely to be engaging in things like, I dunno, surfing, skateboarding, music, all these things that do make a statement, but not as bold of a statement as last generation’s hard-out middle finger to the world psychothriller greaser status. And now, the good thing is that the girls in those “attractive male” magazine adds are most likely into the same things as the men. There’s very few old-boy’s clubs among GenY-er’s because they’re just not cool anymore. We’ve finally begun to put ourselves in the shoes of the people excluded and realize “that sucks.”

As I turn 21, rounding the bend of young-adult and seizing my own power in my own generation, I realize it really is MY generation now. All you 40 year old shmucks who are still out there trying to live the dream, guide us, or get out of our way. It’s our world now, we can change an election, we can make a choice, we’re smart, beautiful, sexy, creative, ridiculous, heroic, and even slightly odd. But at least I know the difference between odd and wrong. Back off Gen-X, go back to your wives, stop buying barely legal porn, get some psychological help, and stop hindering our progress on the tracks you laid but missed the train for.

6 Comments:

Blogger C-dell said...

First I just wanted to thank you for stopping by and leaving your opinions

Second this is a great post I love it, But I disagree with somethings. Sex is okay and natural. I like to have sex and enjoy it very much why do people have some aversion or embarrasment toward sex. If sex is prominent in our culture it is because of the people. I say enjoy yourself as long as all parties understand what is what then it is all okay Sex is nothing to hide in the dark

6:52 AM  
Blogger Raven Calister said...

Yeah but it’s also not for 14 year olds, especially not with 40 year olds. Who doesn’t love sex? I got mad at a book for there not being enough sex in it (see last post). It’s just that it’s not the only thing in life like advertising would have us believe. Everything in moderation.

The Baby Boomer Gen was really sexually inhibited and all “OMG no sex until marriage,” and GenX completely rebelled against that ideology so that the sex culture exploded. Now that GenY is a little more educated and a little less crazy-repressed, I think other’s share my opinion that sex is great, but there’s also more to life (once in a while lol).

I think that there’s so much leeway on what’s okay today as far as morals go that who’s right is it to really say what’s okay and what’s inappropriate? I think advertising is just playing it safe and diving right in because the last generation was so cool about it that this generation doesn’t know when to be offended. I do think we are getting better though as we grow up and take jobs and positions to make decisions in the real world and we change culture, I think we’re just having growing pains.

4:49 PM  
Blogger C-dell said...

You are right on everything you said, but the thing about 14 yr olds, isn't it up to parents to moderate what that do and do not want their children seeing

8:33 AM  
Blogger Raven Calister said...

You're missing the point. I don't care about 14 year olds having sex (which they are, parents or no parents), I care about 40 year olds having sex with just-turned-18 year olds (because odds are they talked them into it), with anything and everything being sexually themed in advertisement, and with sex being such a huge obsession with American culture. I mean jeez, it's like live-porno walking down the streets of LA and I hear it's even worse in San Fran (don't even mention Europe). I mean, I don't want to see that! Maybe you do but I don't.

My real point is that yeah Gen Y is in their sexual peak but aging Gen X has most of the really freaky weirdos and they need to seriously keep their hands to themselves, get some counseling, crawl into a hole or do whatever they have to do to get over their perverse ways so that American advertising can let itself mellow out and quit saturating our culture with sex, sex, and more sex.

2:48 PM  
Blogger C-dell said...

okay right, but at 18 hopefully you are grown enough to know whom and whom you don't wanna have sex with. Not to be pervy, but at 18 and now at twenty there are plenty of older women who keep themselves nice looking who I would gladly have sex with. You don't have to baby people. Rape is one thing, but consensual sex between adults is okay at what point are you do we let you be an adult. Should we prevent sex between age gaps regardless of age a 36 can't have sex with a 58 year old because when the 36 was 18 the 58 was 40. Got to be a grown up at some point. Personal responsibility

5:33 AM  
Blogger Raven Calister said...

No, but people aren't really all there until they're 25 anyway, so 20 with a 40, no-go. You wouldn't put a 14 year old with an 18 year old, but a 40 year old with a 50 year old is apples to oranges. Age is not just a number.

6:53 PM  

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