The World According to Y: Inside the New Adult Generation

226 Pages·2006·2.14 MB·English

by  Rebecca Huntley

Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 13/12/05 2:16 PM Page i
Rebecca Huntley is a Gen-Xer.She has a PhD
in Gender Studies, has worked as an
academic and a political staffer,and is now
a freelance writer.She is married and lives
in Sydney.
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page ii Bookhouse
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page iii Bookhouse
WORLD
The
ACCORDING
to
inside the
new adult
generation
ReBeCCA HUNTLeY
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page iv Bookhouse
First published in 2006
Copyright © Rebecca Huntley 2006
All rights reserved.No part ofthis book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying,recording or by any information storage
and retrieval system,without prior permission in writing from the
publisher.The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a
maximum ofone chapter or 10 per cent ofthis book,whichever
is the greater,to be photocopied by any educational institution for
its educational purposes provided that the educational institution
(or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to
Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
National Library ofAustralia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Huntley,Rebecca.
The world according to Y :inside the new adult generation.
Includes index.
ISBN 1 74114 845 6.
1.Generation Y. 2.Intergenerational relations. I.Title.
305.23
Set in 11/5 pt Minion by Bookhouse,Sydney
Printed by McPherson’s Printing Group,Maryborough,Victoria
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 13/12/05 12:51 PM Page v
Contents
: Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1: From X to Y 1
23::CGheircmksa ibneef oGrree deirc hksa,s blreofts tbheef oBrieg 'Bhroosther2h4ouse 41
4: Mr Right or Mr Right Now? 58
5: Maybe forever 74
6: A job for life 88
7: The world is a fucked-up place 103
8: It's painful to be sexy 120
9: We decide what's cool 143
1101::TThhee sfeuaturcreh'isn gs ot hbinrigght, I1 5g9otta wear shades 177
Endnotes 189
Index 215
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page vi Bookhouse
To Daniel, for everything
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 13/12/05 12:20 PM Page vii Bookhouse
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
First and foremost I want to thank all the members of
Generation Y who shared their ideas,thoughts and personal
stories with me. In a world where young people get paid
serious money for their opinions by market researchers,you
took the time and effort to answer my questions in exchange
for little more than a cup of coffee or a slice of cake.I hope
this book does you justice and helps start a productive con-
versation between the generations about our shared future.
There are many people who provided me with infor-
mation and research. I want to thank Dianna Andoni
fromAmnestyInternationalAustralia,LucyQuartermanfrom
Oxfam/Community Aid Abroad, Ani Wierenga and the
Australian Youth Research Centre, Marc L’Huillier and
Sweeney Research, Ruth Webber, Meredith Jones and John
Wakefield.
A number of friends and colleagues read early drafts
and made important contributions.I want to thank Felicity
Johnston,Aaron Dibdin,Petra Stirling,Kath Albury,Ariadne
Vromen,Stephanie Abbott,Hannah Cole and Jo Fox.Other
friends went beyond the call ofduty to help me track down
young people to interview.I want to thank Moksha Watts,
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page viii Bookhouse
Claudine Lyons, Julia Quilter, Ilona Tar, Simone Moss and
all the Young Aussie Mums. Others like Natasha Cica and
O
T Catharine Lumby were always there when I needed them.
G
N Hugh Mackay’s work is a model for any researcher who
I
D wants to produce humane,thoughtful and relevant work on
R
O
C our society. In addition to that, his advice was invaluable.
C
A His endorsement of this book means a lot. I also want to
D
L thank Mia Freedman and Bernard Salt for their generous
R
O
W words endorsing this book.
E On a personal note, I want to thank Emily, Graham
H
T
and my mother Marisa. Your unflagging support makes a
writer’s life possible.
viii Thanks to Alex Nahlous for being such a wonderful
soul and conscientious editor. And to Zoë Sadokierski for
crouching in a dark toilet (don’t ask...) to produce such an
original and cool cover for the book.
I am indebted to Rebecca Kaiser for her wisdom,
enthusiasm and humour.Authors get the public acclaim but
little thanks ever goes to the commissioning editor who sees
merit in an idea and supports that idea into book form.
Thank you for making this happen and for always paying
for coffee.
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page 1 Bookhouse
CHAPTER 1
From X to Y
»
From X to Y
The kids have got their own thing going.
Good.‘The edge’is over.
Douglas Coupland,author ofGeneration X
Each generation is a new people.
Alexis de Tocqueville
On September 11 2001,I was sitting in my living room,having
just returned from the first session ofa fear offlying course
I was doing.The latest episode ofThe West Wingwas suddenly
disrupted by a news flash about a plane ploughing into the
Twin Towers on a bright New York morning.My family sat
glued to the TV in horror and disbelieffor the next five hours.
The temperature of the world seemed to change overnight
and ‘terrorism’became a priority issue in remote and sheltered
Australia.
As disturbing as September 11 was for every person
who watched it happen on TV, for older generations this
wasn’t the first vision ofmass destruction they have witnessed
that shaped their worldview in profound and lasting ways.
The GI and Silent generations have their images of the
Holocaust and Hiroshima.The Boomers remember napalm
bombings in Vietnam.Generation X,ofwhich I am a younger
Bh1088M-PressProofs.QX5 7/12/05 1:53 PM Page 2 Bookhouse
member, grew up familiar with sepia-toned mushroom
clouds and the threat ofnuclear extinction in fifteen minutes
O
T flat. Those Grim Reaper ads on TV caused us all to fear a
G
N sexual black plague brought on by the spread of AIDS.But
I
D for members ofGeneration Y—commonly defined as young
R
O
C men and women born in or after 19821—September 11 was
C
A the most dramatic global event of their lives so far.
D
L Generation Y reacted to September 11 in a way that
R
O
W says a lot about Yers, their present attitudes and future
E direction.Most of them have only known a peaceful world,
H
T
a world of quick and effortless techno-wars that are always
won by America and her allies. They have only known a
2 prosperous world,where the Dow Jones keeps going up and
people only get wealthier. They were born and raised in a
global society where consumerism and capitalism are natural
conditions and go largely unchallenged.To them,technology
is their natural ally, a necessity rather than a luxury, the
solution to all imaginable problems.2
September 11 was an event that threatened this new
generation’s sense of peace and prosperity. Monuments of
corporate power were destroyed in a country whose economic
and military dominance is practically unassailable. All the
advanced technology in the world couldn’t stop it from
happening (although it ensured we got to watch it unfold
live to air).The confidence ofthis rising generation ofyoung
men and women could have been fatally undermined by this
event—but wasn’t. September 11 did little to dampen the
spirits ofAmerican youth,for example.A Harris Interactive
Poll conducted one year after the attacks showed that
American students remained optimistic about reaching future