Age Of Acceptance ?

[Sheila]

it may well have everything to do with her generation and the way she was raised.

Have taken this quote from another thread to ask .............. Does the age at which we find out have anything at all to do with our acceptance of TG partners ............. obviously the age we are will have some influence on the way we were raised, but I don't class myself of "typical" of how others see my generation (locations will also have some influence)

I think it may have a little to do with age, a little to do with the community we were raised in, and while the younger generation may be more aware of diversity, it does not automatically follow they are more accepting,........... we (the older we's (I am 52)) have had years of discovering new things, learning new ideas with the growth of the internet we are now able to access the world at the touch of our finger tips (and do), and finally some to do with how long we have been in our relationships before we became aware of our partners TG status

I know that as a teen/early 20 something, the world was very very black and white to me, it is as I have aged and life has taught me her lessons, that I have grown to the realization that very few areas are black & white, and that most are varying shades of grey.

Acceptance ....... younger or older which do you feel accepts easier in your opinion

[Tina B.]

Sheila, that's hard one. While youth is so sure of what they believe, you know, that black and white thing, much of the older folks can become so set in their ways, that excepting anything new is hard for them to do. I was very lucky and had a mother that taught her kids that the world is really runs more to the grays,laced with a touch of color called humor. She never aloud bigotry of any type toward any group in her house. We all became very liberal and believed you should live and let live. Or as mommy always said, "how would like it if people treated you like that?".
So I think upbringing wins out over age.
Tina B.

[kimdl93]

I know it has influenced me. I was far too self critical as a young person. As I've grown older, I'm increasingly tolerant of myself and others.

[noeleena]

Hi ,
As you know im 62 .

50 years ago we had two men live next door to us now at the time mum never said what who they were, not till later
yet i knew they were gay , i did not know the words or what they ment. just knew from with in some thing about them ,
Mum did tell me & really i knew i just said oh yea & that was it.
We had a brothel up the road years later ,oh yes the frigates came in & every one knew the U S had arrived this of cause was christchurch N Z, rutherford street woolston
So i knew things & us kids of 10 to 12 ,
So your so called black & white was it really in that time of the 50 s dought it yet some things were.

I had to learn & do things that most kids would never have to. yet it never bothered me. so my training started in 1954 age 7.
before then i have no memory so in many ways the normal black & white was changed so many times for me that acceptance was easyer. & i did not have a father & that sad to say was the best thing for me long story another day.
& yes i was very very close to my mum for 24 years. till she passed away. yeap 37 years ago.
& life can be strange at times . living it can be even stranger as well.

...noeleena...

[juno]

Teenagers are normally struggling to fit in. The 20's and perhaps 30's may be the most tolerant, because people realize that it is normal not to be "normal". Almost everyone has some traits that they think are weird, and they eventually realize that most other people do.

People learn tolerance from exposure. In the US, and some other countries, "gay" was something young people made jokes about, but was otherwise a taboo topic. Now days, there are gay people on TV, and many out-of-the-closet public figures. Similarly, the US is becoming much less racially segregated. Children that grow up with other races are mostly non-racist.

So, the best thing is for people to be open about their "weird" traits so there is more public exposure to the normal variations of humans.

[minalost]

You can have 30 years experience at something, but if you did it wrong for all 30 years, how much experience do you really have?

I don’t think its age but the range of life experience that determines how we grow as people. How different would your life experiences be if you lived in a small town of 150 people all your life versus someone who has lived in a large city or who has moved around a lot? Of equal importance is how you were raised and by your family, and how you were influenced by your peer group growing up.

I don’t have a magic wand for making people accept us, but I do think that more positive exposure would be a good thing.

Just my :2c:.
:hugs:

[Freddy12]

Interesting comments.

I think acceptance varies more by person than age. There are those who are young and dogmatic. Everyone should fit into a specific role based on gender. Sometimes they mellow as they age, sometimes not.

There are others who are more accepting when they are young.

I think it has more to do with how much you are willing to consider ideas that are not your own. If you never think you might be wrong, you don't grow. Just my :2c:

[AKAMichelle]

Age doesn't guarantee acceptance for sure. It makes it more likely for a young person to be more accepting. I feel acceptance has nothing to do with age but with the connection felt between the 2 people. Under the right circumstances you may accept a lot more than at other times.

[Charleen]

I don't think age matters much. It's more the environment that you in at any given age. My opinions and acceptance of things and people have changes over time. I'm sure that true of many others.
When it comes to us, I think we still have a long row to hoe. The LGB of the family still has to deal with a boat load of prejudice, though not as in the open as in the past. Maybe we will get there in a while, but we have to be able to get the truth out there. Gonna be hard what with tings like Spinger holding us up tp ridicule on a regular basis.

[fallen_rayne]

That is definitely a very very tough question to answer. Much like your description of black and white areas and morally grey areas. This is totally one of those morally grey areas. I think it mostly has to do with how the person was raise. How open they are to the world around them. If said person lives under a rock then there is no doubt they are going to be alittle shut off for the world.

In retrospect, it depends on how the person was raised and how open they are to the world.

[ReineD]

Since it's my quote, I'd like to put it in context. :)

SOs (need I add this is a general statement and of course it won't apply to everyone), raised in a conservative environment who were well entrenched in their adulthoods prior to the internet won't be as aware of gender and sexual variances as younger generation SOs.

There are other factors too. A SO (edited to add, generally speaking) married to the same person for 30 years will not be as open minded as a 50+ GG who is alone in life and looking for a partner. :)

[Inna]

Yes, living the word is proving harder than saying the word. We live in times of tolerance, however, there are few places where tolerance actually thrives. And even then tolerance is somewhat stereotypical. Transgender, C/D issues are out of the mainstream even more so than gay situation. Perhaps we insinuate, through our behavior and needs, condition which stands in a crash course with nature. After all Nature's main thrust is to promote multiplication and survival of the species, we tend to brake this reproductive sequence. I believe that in almost every species lie buried, deep beneath consciousness, the instrument of self preservation telling us what is wrong and what isn't. Then on top of such mechanism cultural rituals and pretenses outcast us as undesirables.
I hope that time will come when intellect and love of one another will mean more than gain and image.

[Sarah Doepner]

Honestly I don't know if age is the key to understanding who will be more accepting. I know older folks who are ready for anything and get a kick out of new experiences and others who are so darn rigid that I'm afraid they will break into shards if something new hits them wrong.

At the other end of the age spectrum I see the same thing, a group of open accepting young people who are willing to stand up and support diversity and others who buy into a world of black and white. The second group are jugdemental and unwilling to accept anything that isn't already in their world. I wouldn't be surprised to find it has more to do with how people were raised and the conditions in which they have lived. Age can make us more conservative in how we deal with our health or use our money, but not necessarily in how we view our social world. I'm only 60, so I hope I don't get judgemental and unaccepting when I get old. I'll let you know in 40 years or so.