Are there two Generation X's?

[renard_ruse]

Generation X is mostly ignored by the popular culture and media these days, and its overall population numbers are significantly less than the Baby Boomers who preceded them and Generation Y (and Z) which have followed, so its probably a moot point anyway, but I've been thinking about this lately.

I think that there are two Generation X's. Those who were in high school at some point while Ronald Reagan was President and the later ones who were only kids during Reagan's Presidency. The exact definition of what years constitute Gen X is in dispute but if we take the more traditional 20 year definition of a generation, and assume the Boomers were born from 1944 to 1964, and Generation X from 1964 to 1984, I would say Gen X cohort A consists of those who were born from 1964 to ~ 1975 and cohort B from ~ 75 to 84.

Although I do accept the existence of a broad Generation X that can be historically and culturally distinguished from Boomers and Generation Y, the internal differences between the two Gen X subgroups is something that generational historians often neglect. While many things unite both cohorts, and this was even more so when they were in their younger days, other differences serve to split them in various ways.

 

[Skiddles2014]

You must be from generation Y are you so boring?

 

[renard_ruse]

In short, I think there was and remains a noticeable difference between people who were teens in the 80s and those who were teens in the 90s.

The music changed drastically during the 90s. In 1990, various forms of rock were dominant as most popular among youth, yet by 2000, rap and hip hop had supplanted it for dominance.

One of the most telling differences, however, was the rapid change in youth attitude toward homosexuality. While homosexuals were overwhelmingly reviled by most youth in the 1980s, by the mid 90s, female bisexuality and lesbianism became rapidly "cool" and the "in thing" for girls to participate in, while young men cheered it on as "something they could watch for arousal." Male homosexuality still continued to carry a stigma among probably a majority of youth though, but attitudes became less extreme toward it. While a gay male would most like be beaten up in high school in 1989, by 1999, this was highly unlikely, even if most young men still found the acts gross and uncool for themselves. As we all know today, homosexuality seems absolutely "cool" among youth and young men are now experimenting openly in the same ways that young women did in the 90s, but this thread is NOT about "Millennials" so we will leave that for another thread.

 

[parodyluvr75]

I got Xs and no Y.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

There's more than two. Quite a few issues, actually.

http://fanfix.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/figure-1.jpg

https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/800593.jpg

http://media.emmafrostfiles.com/comics/covers/Generation-X_019_00.jpg

http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/d47/d474b10c-3cd9-487f-b8c5-4a970953d4c3.jpg

http://media.emmafrostfiles.com/comics/covers/GenerationX10p00.jpg

http://media.emmafrostfiles.com/comics/covers/generation-x-29-cover.jpg

 

[RedAllan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-7Lk3tIhZA

The original Generation X.

 

[KingOrfeo]

In the Strauss-Howe generational theory, the Baby Boom Generation was born 1943-1960, Generation X 1961-1981, the Millennial Generation 1982-2004, the Homeland Generation 2005-present.

 

[Balladeer08]

Are there two generation X's?

Yes.

And the 3rd one will be REALLY dirty!

 

[Goldenfire]

What happens now then? Y and Z are left, then is it back to Generation A or do we start adding numbers?