Gen-XY
My birth-date places me on the time-line border between Gen-X and Gen-Y. This is an interesting place to be since one of the consequences is that I do not identify strongly with either group. Some characteristics attributed to Gen-X are appealing to me and some are annoying. The same goes for Gen-Y. Instead of my birth-date, I feel like my being a man has had a more profound effect on who I am. That is why I am hereafter going to consider myself as being a member of Gen-XY!
While I can point to my birth-date as the source of my inability to identify as either Gen-X or Gen-Y, aren’t there an almost unlimited number of reasons for feeling the same way? Who identifies fully with any stereotype or other arbitrary grouping to which they are perceived to belong?
Making blanket statements about people due to being in Gen-X or Gen-Y seems uncannily like crude attempts at humor containing racism, sexism, or other forms of bigotry. It’s cheap. It’s hurtful. And it’s wrong. An especially appalling example is this article on the blog, modite. I think the comparisons and generalizations used in that article are confrontational, bigoted, and short-sighted.
Luckily, since Gen-Z is already upon us, the people who take up these stereotypes and run with them have already run out of letters.
In: Articles · Tagged with: Age Discrimination, bigotry, career, Gen-X, Gen-XY, Gen-Y, Gen-Z, Organizational Behavior
Shad finds high-value intersections between business strategy and information technology. He currently resides in the Madison, WI area.
on July 23, 2010 at 7:49 am
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Aren’t Gen-Z the zombies?? You know what I hear about zombies………. BRAINS!
on May 28, 2011 at 4:40 pm
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I agree 100%