In the 1920’s, they dressed as flappers and listened to “obscene” music (jazz) and danced funny (the charleston)
In the 50’s , they wore black leather jackets , rode motorcyles and danced obscenely, actually swinging their hips (Elvis)
In the 60’s, they became hippies: loud music, torn jeans, obscene music lyrics ( Mick Jagger actually dared to sing “let’s spend the night together”), talked openly about sex,(but hesistated a bit before doing it at college) , used drugs, got naked on stage (“Hair”) and tried to burn down the Establishment.
In the 80’s they turned punk–mohawk hairdo’s, safety pin piercings.Sex left the college campus and moved into high school.
Today–tatoos and piercings are routine, sex is so common, even S/M with leather whips is routine. Rappers scream obscenities so casually that nothing shocks the old folks.
What is left for the next generation of teens to rebel against? Of course, they’ll find some way to piss off their parents. But what will it be?
I think MetalDog has a point, even though he was (was he?) joking.
My generation (I’m 25) seems to be split pretty much in half as far as values go. Those of us who are conservative are even more conservative than our parents. Those who are liberal seem to be taking it a step further than their pot-smoking hippie parents did.
It’s like we look at what our parents believe, and go them one better.
I thought of that idea myself, but figured, naw, it’s too easy! Any dork could do that–and no teenager wants to be a dork, right?
I’m really (honestly) trying to do the impossible–think like a teenager will, in,say the year 2011.
Come on, dopers help me out! Who’s got a good estimatiom of what we are all gonna have to deal with when our kids actually do it to us?
I wanna be prepared!
I agree with SnoopyFan (two years older than she is). I noticed this very trend among my friends in high school, if they weren’t trying to outdo their parents, they were generally of the opinion that their parents had been too wild.
As I have an eleven year old daughter that I know is going to be a rebel, I really really hope that MetalDog is right! Everyone I know thinks she is going to be this pierced, tattooed, sneaking out, drinking teen…I’m scared. ~grins~
This sort of conversation always interests me, I think the same as during all those eras most of the kids will be pretty boring, dress and look like thier parents adopting the subculture of 5 to 10 years ago into a minor movement, and there will be a small number of people creating a new subculture.
Looking through my mom & dad’s year books - most of the people looked like a character from “Leave it to Beaver” when they were in high school - In university there were about 10 hippies (all my parents friends).
Remebering my own foray into counter culture as a punk, there were a total of 100 punks in my city of ~500,000 at the time. Most kids looked like sitcom families of the time.
Counter culture & youth movements are always a very small minority - same with “bad kids” - there was teen pregnacy in the Victorian Era, there were drugs in the 40’s & 50’s.
What I think is that a current subcultures will be co-opted and become mainstream (such as punk is now) - most kids will look very mainstream - they might wear pants thier parents find funny, or get haircuts the parents think are a bit weird - but they won’t be that shocking. If the climate is correct a new subculture will bloom (it may require something to rebel against within society) - and a very small number of teenagers will be interested in the subculture and some will adopt it as thier own.
There will be some kids who are into drugs, some who are having sex, and things will be more or less what they are like now - parents will forget thier own teen years & paint it as a time when everything was perfect, kids will think the parents don’t understand them because the world has changed.
The new subcultures will shock people who have always been mainstream (which is most people) - people will think the world is scarier and more dangereous than it has ever been & it will all be a myth. As for new subcultures - they will arise, there will always be people who will rebel against society. There will be changes - some things that once were considered to be extremely rebelious could become accepted by society.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
While piercing various body parts seems to have lost it’s shock value, I have heard that the new wild & crazy, rebellious thing to do is branding. Yep, just like they do to cattle.
My dad was branded as part of his fraternity initiation and that was nearly 50 years ago and he thought it was incredibly stupid back then.
The other semi-big thing seems to be body modification, ie: making incisions in your forehead/forearms and inserting steel plated or plastic horns and mini-dumbbells. The best example I can think of is the guy who apparently desires to look like a big cat ie; lion, tiger etc, so he has undergon some serious body modification, including having his teeth filed down, having whiskers implanted and plans to have his entire body tattooed so as to resemble a cats fur. I’m sure there’s a pic of him on the 'Net somewhere.
As you point out, branding isn’t all that new. There was a black fraternity where I went to college and all it’s members branded themselves. I mention the wooden disk because many of the various piercings and tattoos draw their inspiration from various primitive societies and AFAIK, no one’s adopted the disk, but they have adopted most of the other things. Besides, the disk would be cheaper to install than a total body modification.
I’ve wondered that myself. I can just imagine the old-folks homes of the future … wrinkly grandmas and grandpas with faded tatooes and saggy piercings, Eminem and Marilyn Manson being played over the PA system … scary thought!
I think they will, without irony, adopt symbols of the oppressed (Shi’a Arabs, Chiapas Indians, Joy Division/Comfort Girls, etc.) as gestures of deep passive agression.
How about deliberately exposing themselves to the risk of STDs? It’s cool, because sex will always be cool, and it’s dangerous, and to really shock your parents you have to do something dangerous. Some gay men do this already (though how widespread the practice is is open to debate), and it wouldn’t be the first time something worked it’s way from a small subculture perceived as cool, into the mainstream.
What else? Smoking. It’s become progressively more demonized and marginalized over the last 20 years or so. I myself sense an almost puritanical anti-smoking fervor about in the land these days. This renders the act of teen smoking even more shocking than it used to be.
Another thing…racism. There is a really powerful stigma attached to racism these days. Adopting openly racist attitudes would be a surefire way to shock your parents like nothing else could.
Oh yes, and getting back to sex. I imagine that teen sex symbols will get younger and younger. Britney was a pioneer. How young? You’re the parents or future parents. What would shock you.
There was a cartoon in the Reader several years ago that depicted a teenager talking to his father:
"Aw c’mon, Dad. Body piercing is so square! Can’t I just amputate a couple of fingers?
I thought that was hilarious but lo and behold, Governor Rod Blagajovech of Illinois recently signed legislation to make it illegal for anyone without a medical license to perform tongue splitting! Not piercing, but actually splitting the tongue to give the person a lizardlike appearance. (and now that I think of it, this is hilarious too - the fact that it was necessary to outlaw such odd behavior)
I wondered what my stepdaughter would do when she became an adult. She grew up around drugs, tatts, piercings, homosexuality and virtually every form of ‘alternative’ lifestyle you could imagine. Alternative in quotes because I can’t really think how to phrase it.
She’s an actress, unpierced, untattooed and a thoroughly nice person who I get on with very well now. There’s been no gross-outs with her. Well, her bloody grandmother is grossed-out that she’s living with her partner who happens to be Maori but her grandmother has problems…
Now I just need to get through my boys growing up.
