52% of "Generation Z" doesn't identify as heterosexual

[caulfield12]

That's just a big WOW for me...but I have been living outside the US for most of the last decade plus.

Generation Z and diversity

By 2020, more than half of the kids in the U.S. will be members of a minority — making Generation Z the first for which diversity is the norm. Gen Z-ers are also the first to grow up during a time when same-sex marriage is not a hot-button political issue — it’s a constitutional right. It should come as no surprise then that their social leanings are progressive. Many of their favorite peer celebrities, like Rowan Blanchard and Amandla Stenberg, identify as queer, and only 48 percent of Gen Z-ers identify as heterosexual. As 19-year-old trans artist Chella Man tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “My identity is valid although most of it falls on a spectrum between standard categories.”

...

Generation Z. The iGeneration. Post-millennials. The Founders. There are a handful of monikers intended to neatly define those born between roughly 1998 and 2015, but at this point “Generation Z” seems to be the one with the staying power. As this group of 61 million young Americans — which makes up 26 percent of the U.S. population — enters its formative years, who exactly is the future of this country and what are they all about? Asking Gen Z-ers to define themselves, they say they are “innovative,” “self-aware,” “resilient,” and “woke .” They are the children of Generation X and have been raised amid an America in tumult, finding themselves on the front lines of a divided nation. In a series of articles now on Yahoo Lifestyle, we get to know this rising generation and what makes its members so powerful, so opinionated, and so unique. This is Gen Z.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/innovative-resilient-woke-ready-not-generation-z-arrived-000106846.html

[Jose Abreu]

I think that number is inflated.

[caulfield12]

Yeah, I could see 25%.

But 52%?

Maybe it's a confusing survey question...like that old adage about "78% of American university students have kissed another girl at least once (while drunk or sober) before graduating"...that ends up registering people as "bi-sexual" instead.

 

[Jack Parkman]

On 5/30/2018 at 11:04 PM, Jose Abreu said:

I think that number is inflated.

 

On 5/30/2018 at 11:51 PM, caulfield12 said:

Yeah, I could see 25%.

But 52%?

Maybe it's a confusing survey question...like that old adage about "78% of American university students have kissed another girl at least once (while drunk or sober) before graduating"...that ends up registering people as "bi-sexual" instead.

 

I don't think that number is inflated, I actually think it is closer to accurate than people give it credit for. Despite the current norms, Homosexuality an Bisexuality have been a thing throughout human history, and it has been suppressed by cultural means since the the rise of Christianity and Islam over a roughly 400 year period. Kids born from 1996 on have always been exposed to gay people, and it isn't a taboo for them like it was for the 1500 years prior. We're just going back to normal human behavior. If you read about the ancients, it was always a thing from the dawn of civilization through the ancient Greek/Roman eras. Post fall of Rome, it became a cultural taboo. We've opened our eyes a bit to diversity, and it shouldn't be looked at as weird or different. IMO it has always been a part of being human, and to say otherwise is delusional and ignoring history. 

 Honestly, I think the majority of the population is probably bisexual but they have been culturally taught to suppress those feelings. Humans have evolved to the point that sex is not only about procreation anymore.  Before the invention of 'safe sex' aids (whether birth control for women or condoms for men) there was always a good chance of heterosexual sex leading to procreation. Not so anymore, which bothers traditionalists. I just think that we, here in the US, are a sexually repressed culture and need to lighten up quite a bit on the subject in many ways. Instead of continuing the traditional ideas about sex, we shoiuld evolve our thinking and explore what the true normal is, because in my opinion it sure as hell isn't what we think it is. 

Edited June 1, 2018 by Jack Parkman

[greg775]

11 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

 

 Honestly, I think the majority of the population is probably bisexual but they have been culturally taught to suppress those feelings.

Great post. I never knew the majority of the population was bisexual. This will shock some people that traditional heterosexual people are actually in the minority.

[caulfield12]

9 hours ago, raBBit said:

lol. Caulfield how confused would you be if you ever made it back to the states? Your only intake of American culture is leftist fairy tales and corporate media character assassination. You'd probably be pretty freaked out to see that everything is largely the same except Rahm and company are far more adept at giving away parking tickets than their predescessors.

But if we're sharing links that removed from reality here's a chance to confront your white guilt if you have any.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/26/us/reparations-happy-hour-portland.html

You just described most of America.   How many would you consider to be well-informed?

Fox News, CNN, MSNBC...but how many Americans also read The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, etc.?

Reading is a critical skill that’s rapidly decreasing in an age where people are more obsessed with posting their latest meals, vacation photos and selfies at Instagram.  And, IMO, until you spend years and years outside of America, you don’t really understand the positives and negatives of what it’s like on the outside.  Things like civil rights and privacy (in China, there’s a camera every 50 meters and police are now using real time AI ingrained into their sunglasses to track criminals), poverty/homelessness, education, infrastructure, technology....are all quite eye-opening.

Try spending one year in Kansas City, Kansas, as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow and you’ll see the real America that exists only in your imagination (and the news).   See the poverty in Mumbai (Kibera).   Try walking down streets with soldiers armed with machine guns posted every 100 meters like in Colombia.  Visit Laos/Cambodia/Bangladesh and interact with begging children who should be in school but are forced by parents or gangs into street life.  You’ll be singing a different tune about privilege and “us” having it so easy and “you” having it so rough.

 

[greg775]

On 6/1/2018 at 9:14 AM, raBBit said:

lol. Caulfield how confused would you be if you ever made it back to the states? Your only intake of American culture is leftist fairy tales and corporate media character assassination. You'd probably be pretty freaked out to see that everything is largely the same except Rahm and company are far more adept at giving away parking tickets than their predescessors.

But if we're sharing links that removed from reality here's a chance to confront your white guilt if you have any.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/26/us/reparations-happy-hour-portland.html

That event is all well and good, but guess what, everybody likes a free beer or two. The $10 may have covered two beers or one drink. I doubt there was a lot of policy talk going on in the bar, but who knows, maybe.

[greg775]

17 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

You just described most of America.   How many would you consider to be well-informed?

Fox News, CNN, MSNBC...but how many Americans also read The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, etc.?

Reading is a critical skill that’s rapidly decreasing in an age where people are more obsessed with posting their latest meals, vacation photos and selfies at Instagram.  And, IMO, until you spend years and years outside of America, you don’t really understand the positives and negatives of what it’s like on the outside.  Things like civil rights and privacy (in China, there’s a camera every 50 meters and police are now using real time AI ingrained into their sunglasses to track criminals), poverty/homelessness, education, infrastructure, technology....are all quite eye-opening.

 Try spending one year in Kansas City, Kansas, as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow and you’ll see the real America that exists only in your imagination (and the news).   See the poverty in Mumbai (Kibera).   Try walking down streets with soldiers armed with machine guns posted every 100 meters like in Colombia.  Visit Laos/Cambodia/Bangladesh and interact with begging children who should be in school but are forced by parents or gangs into street life.  You’ll be singing a different tune about privilege and “us” having it so easy and “you” having it so rough.

 

America I think is still the greatest place of all, but there's no question it can be horrific depending on your situation. If you have a chronic condition and we're at a stage you can't get insurance, you could live on the streets forever. If you are a kid in the wrong classroom you could be wiped off our planet at age 5 by some gunman. Or the wrong movie theatre you could be gone before your life even gets fun.  If you are the wrong color you could have some cop blow your head off or harass you. It's all relative. I do believe America is by far the best place in the world but still I don't deny you can have a really bad life here depending on your situation.

[ptatc]

I wonder if this will lead to a less genetic diversity in the long run. I have a number of female friends who opted for artificial insemination and single parenthood because of homosexuality. They could pick most likely eye, hair, skin color and also pick based on IQ scores.

This process will limit un wanted genetic diseases. However, it may also limit diversity.

Edited June 2, 2018 by ptatc

[Jose Abreu]

5 hours ago, ptatc said:

I wonder if this will lead to a less genetic diversity in the long run. I have a number of female friends who opted for artificial insemination and single parenthood because of homosexuality. They could pick most likely eye, hair, skin color and also pick based on IQ scores.

This process will limit un wanted genetic diseases. However, it may also limit diversity.

That's honestly kind of scary 

[pcq]

I think gender ID issues will take a few generations to reach majority acceptance. Perhaps some discomfort  became a negative toward the Obama years.

[southsider2k5]

Go shop at the gay hardware store- greg.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/29552615?__twitter_impression=true

[greg775]

42 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Go shop at the gay hardware store- greg.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/29552615?__twitter_impression=true

Today I was checking out at Hi Vee and a transgendered person was the cashier. The two people before me were mean to the cashier. I was exceedingly friendly without making it obvious I knew she was a guy. You guys blast me for intolerance but I am more tolerant than 95 percent of people in such situations. Most stare and say stupid things.