My Generation...The World According to Y Review

So I've recently finished reading the above book, lent to me by my good friend Kassie.

My generation, known as Gen Y, for people born on or after 1982, often gets a good beating in the media. We're apathetic, we're not politically engaged, we are materialistic and the list goes on. I really liked this book because it debunks a number of these stereotypes and also looks closely at what's really going on in Gen Y minds.

For instance, it expands on a research theme I came across during my honours year - that whilst young people may not be engaged in political parties and other traditional forms of civic activities they are volunteering, members of community groups and charities, which they feel are more adequate means of expressing their beliefs and values.

Another interesting theme is that Gen Yers prefer friendships to relationships. People in serious relationships still value their friendships and are unlikely to let them wilt away (perhaps like our parents' generations). I found this quote particularly interesting:

"For many Y women, even mature sexual relationships can't quite match the intimacy of unqualified friendships that stretch from childhood into adolescence and adulthood. This is a Sex and the City generation and young women values their female friendships above all others." Huntley, p. 31

That resonated well with me but then I found the next quote even more interesting.

"This ultimate trust and intimacy between young women supports a double standard. A typical Y girl has higher moral expectations of her female friends than she does of the man in her life."

This is because women tend to excuse the bad behaviour of men, because they're more liable to screwing up. When it comes to women we expect them to know correct behaviour but we're more forgiving of men. I think this is probably true, perhaps it's unfair that we demand perfection from our friends but maybe "sexual love", in the sense of a coupled relationship, allows a greater degree of forgiveness. Since female-female relationships are more intimate, the betrayal cuts deep.

Personally, I think this is very reasonably, the truth. Not that I've experienced being cheated on and had to forgive a lover or anything remotely like that. But I think it's the case in the relationships I have with my female friends, there's a silent degree of expectation. And if you break that, in any way and not necessarily limited to cheating per se, your relationship may never recover.

The book also talks about Yers as consumers, how we don't profess to love branded culture but how we're stuck within it. Our power as consumers seems to elevate above our powers as voters or workers. We still have brand loyalty even if we don't want to admit it. I think this leads to consumerist guilt, we want that nice top/jeans/mobile phone but we feel bad because we know we're subconsciously ruled by status rather than asking ourselves if we really need product x or where in fact did product x come from? The sad fact is, we've been brought up around commercials and corporatism and whilst we are fighting it, we're not sure who is really winning.

Anyway I'd recommend this book to Gen Yers and those from other generations, it's a great read and broadens your mind to us "young people of tomorrow".

T