Hanky Codes/Gay Youth

[SLS]

Am I crazy to think that most gay guys know what hanky codes are/were? A short conversation with an old friend led me to believe that even in the age of technology, the average gay "Boi" (retch!!) has zero inclination to research the history of glbt culture. Even things that happened in the last century. Forget Stonewall, most of them don't even know any gay related events/trends/figureheads of the 70s or 80s.

They say things like "I think the roots of gay music can all be traced back to Erasure..." and "I loved wristbands before it was cool to put them on your forearm..." and "No not low-rise, low-low-rise, get with the season!" and "I don't do hookups anymore, I'm so over that, I respect my body now...want a bump?" aack I can't stand it! They are completely unable to speak in full sentences when trying to express their feelings about anything too, what the hell happened to english??
Example: "I mean, like...I dunno, like I got so mad at my mom because, she like, I dunno I just, I mean, like, she just makes me mad you know? I mean, like, I don't know, I'm just mad you know?"

What the fuck? I'm only 25, I shouldn't be feeling a generation gap this hard should I?

I get the impression that typical social gay youths have all the worst stereotypical traits of women and men rolled into one vapid fashion victim package. If the older generations weren't so busy trying to get down these tragic youth's pants and complaining about how they only like younger guys but can't understand why most younger guys also only like younger guys and won't just give them a chance and dismiss them based on age and they really only relate to younger guys and blahblahblah....they might actually have something to teach these club/bed hopping nutballs. Something about where their culture and social freedoms have come from, what it took to get them, and what things were like before they were something that could be easily taken for granted.

[SLS]

btw these comments are based on the unhappy results of my "gay" social life, obviously these blanket statements can't cover all glbt youths and men and women, just the wierdness I've experienced while out and about trying to meet guys my around my age to relate to, and older guys to learn from. Obviously guys who have better things to do than bar/club/party hop are probably the type of guys I have an interest in meeting but have no luck finding. What the fuck do you do anyway, join a book club?

[basschick]

jay, sounds to me like you're doing something most people do in middle-age. you're just doing it early.

almost all the people over 30 i know say the same thing that the people over 30 said 30 years ago - they complain about the youth of today, their music, their clothes, their social habits. your parents, teachers and probably older gay men did the same thing about you and your friends. now you are doing it with the up-and-coming generation.

my mom says that people over 30 were saying that exact same stuff 60 years ago when she was a teenager.

i don't know why it is, but most people stop adopting new attitudes and fashions at a certain age, and then it's time to say "that crap kids listen to now isn't music. when i first started hanging out at the clubs, the stuff they played? now THAT'S music"...