It is very hard, and ultimately inaccurate, to generalize anything about an entire generation of people. Millions of people have millions of stories: Different families, different childhoods, different values, different ideas, different adulthoods, different careers. But if looking at generations as a collective mass of people, and not a bunch of disconnected individuals, one can find common threads.

So that said, how do different generations deal with sexuality, that most human of human things?

We all know that the GIs were exceedingly traditional in their social structures for most of their lives. They did not go to extremes in fashion, in music, in relationships, in any cultural area. This is mostly due to their outer-drivenness and their generational preoccupation with the group and with grand planning.

The Silent, of course, generally played Man in the Grey Flannel Suit until the 1960s, then broke free and with the Boomers revolutionized pop culture, societal values and, notably, sexuality. The Silent were the first generation with a significant number of "out" gays, from Harvey Milk and Barney Frank to Dusty Springfield. They also had feminists galore -- Gloria Steinem most obviously -- and "swinger couples" who stretched the limits of monogamy in the 1970s social scene. But all of this came out (no pun intended) during the 2T and was kept tightly bottled when the Silent were coming of age.

Boomers were comfortable taking sexual experimentation even further with "free love" thanks to the example of their elders. But most of this was apparent with older Boomers, as free love quickly lost its trendiness with youth in the early 1970s. '50s Boomers as a rule did more of their limit-testing in the office and not the bedroom.

Now we get to the Xers, who came of age with the AIDS epidemic and a sudden awareness that things had gone too far. Nevertheless their rebellious spirit would never have stood for a stodgy and "retro" model of human courtship. And so, the dabbler was born. Xers began approaching relationships, like everything else in life, with an unmistakable practicality. Don't get too entangled, don't lose your cool, don't commit too wholeheartedly. Witness the casual relationship models of Friends and Sex and the City, the beginning of internet dating (the ultimate in pragmatism: let the computer CALCULATE who's right for me), and the rising acceptability of single parenting.

But now Millies are here, and probably most members of this generation have already been in at least one serious relationship. We seem to put career and relationship on an equal footing, perhaps even with an edge toward career. We have become so accustomed to standardized testing, to college competitiveness, to the Bluetooth and the Blackberry, that sex/dating/whatever CANNOT be an impediment to the rest of life. We may be the least sex-obsessed youth in memory. Note the crash in the last decade of teen pregnancies and abortions, as well as the "live and let live" tolerant attitudes most of us hold toward homosexuality, bisexuality, feminism, untraditional family models (including single parenting), etc. Like the GIs, we just care a hell of a lot more about the outer than the inner, and it's showing.

So the cycle continues. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by 1990

But now Millies are here, and probably most members of this generation have already been in at least one serious relationship. We seem to put career and relationship on an equal footing, perhaps even with an edge toward career. We have become so accustomed to standardized testing, to college competitiveness, to the Bluetooth and the Blackberry, that sex/dating/whatever CANNOT be an impediment to the rest of life. We may be the least sex-obsessed youth in memory. Note the crash in the last decade of teen pregnancies and abortions, as well as the "live and let live" tolerant attitudes most of us hold toward homosexuality, bisexuality, feminism, untraditional family models (including single parenting), etc. Like the GIs, we just care a hell of a lot more about the outer than the inner, and it's showing.

So the cycle continues. Thoughts?

Millenial and GI sexual behavior do share some striking similiarities with the GIs. In our youth, we have already pioneered a peer-society that manifests itself in networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook. As we become rising adults, we can expect to see the spread of online dating services in the coming decades. These trends are akin to the "Mate & Date" practices of GIs during their bright sunny college days. I predict we will see a return to rigid dating practices. My brother (b. 1982) is working on this cool website where your friends review portfolios, administer online tests, and essentially select companions for you - akin to the "rating and dating" of 1930s fraternities and sororities). We can expect that these customs will only become more institutionalized once the New Silents enter their youth. I also expect that the next generation of prophets will see Millenial sexuality as insipid, un-romantic, and bland, and will launch a new wave of sexual euphoria (possibly after Millenial Scientists invent cures that eliminate the threat of AIDs/Herpes, and other STDs)

Although most of the Crown of Creation was either delivered up by the stork or discovered under a cabbage plant, we did discover sexuality in our teens and went on to politicize it to a great extent.

Mr. Jack Baker one of the first successful Silent sodomites to run in elections and engage in institutional struggles was carried upon the shoulders of a polity that was largely Boomer. One may admire, wrongly in my opinion, the Progressive nature of our (I say our, as Yo. Ob. Sv. was one who exercised his franchise in Mr. Baker's favor.) entrusting such as he in higher office. But, one must consider his opposition of that day which involved both Trotskyites and Nixonians. My fellow Golden Gophers made a statement of negation against Leon and Dick rather than affirmation for Mr. Baker. But, Mr. Baker has long struggled within the systems of Our Commercial Republic in a dignified manner and on that point he must be praised.

He was brave and he was orderly in the beginning and sexuality driven politics would be the province of both courage and good order only rarely in the Awakening or Unravelling. Others (mainly Silents) would follow his good example. The Crown of Creation would have little use for either courage or good order when they came to the struggles of sexual politics, that is not the method of the Crown of Creation.