The pervert community? Oh please
by Julie Birchill, spiked:
Now even sexual deviants are desperate for social validation.
I always swore that I’d never be one of those oldsters (60 this summer!) who moans about young people. And I don’t, generally. But more and more I find myself sneering at, jeering at and mocking them, or at least that section which is the loudest – the soft, spoon-fed sort who seem to believe that every last syllable which falls from their lips is of interest to strangers, whereas it’s highly likely that even their loved ones struggle to stay awake when they’re speaking.
I always imagined that the older generation pilloried the upcoming one out of envy, but this certainly isn’t the case with me. I got my dream job when I was 17 (whereas it’s very hard for a working-class kid to break into paid journalism now) and was single and keen to mingle for a brief but memorable year, long before AIDS raised its regrettable head. So it’s not that I think the young are living some bed-hopping, pill-popping life that I was never privy to. On the contrary, one reason I find them annoying is that they’re the only generation who want less from life than the generation who came before. Less sex, less booze, less travel (those carbon footprints!), all of which is entirely their own business.
But they also appear to want less free speech – which is when it becomes an issue concerning all of us. ‘You’re not going out dressed like that!’, has become ‘You can’t say that!’ – and it’s all the more sinister coming from a younger generation rather than an older one, who could be excused for being cautious.
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