younger generation more accepting?

[Robin414]

So I was at a local convenience store I visit regularly and always looking very androgynous leaning on the femme side I suppose and I've always noticed the clerk (young woman in her 20's and very stylish) always looked like she was checking me out, for lack of a better term, and not like I looked like something good to eat pardon the metaphor...anyway, one day I decided to 'out' myself (OK, I had a couple inspirational indulgences with Mr. Daniels prior)! She was SO accepting I almost fainted, she said with a smile "You can be a woman if you want to be, there's NOTHING wrong with that!" Just one mugle in a million but inspirational none the less so I thought I'd share ☺

[Genny B]

I think we all wait for that moment to occur to each of us. I'm still waiting... LOL! Congratulations!

Genny B

[StefaniLara]

That's great. Hope to hear that someday. :)

[Pat]

When my kids (now in their mid-twenties) were in school I had a lot of interaction with them and their classmates on school activities and they were very accepting of all the lifestyle choices of people around them -- much moreso than I and my classmates were at their age. My youngest had a best friend who was in transition in high school and all the kids treated him (FtM) just great. I was the one who was the most problematic because I had known him for years as a little girl and I had a hard time seeing him as he was instead of how I remembered him. I always feel hopeful that the world is going to be a much better place as these kids take over. ;)

[Rachelakld]

The woman at the counter of my local pools, early 40's, she is also cool with me swimming there, always nice chat as I enter & leave.
My kids are "taught" about transgender in sex ed at school

[Marcelle]

Hi Robin,

I would say that the younger generation is more accepting because they are better educated on the subject and are exposed to it in ways we never were. When I grew up "trans" was considered evil, impure, perverted, sick, crazy . . . pick your poison. Anyone on the trans spectrum was portrayed as bad someone to be feared. Fear of difference breeds hate/intolerance and that is hard to get out of a generation. Youth today are more exposed to the issues from an objective point of view so they are less likely to fear and be more curious which may lead to tolerance and acceptance. However, it does not mean all youth are accepting . . . I have received some glaringly disgusted looks from young 20 something women and men whereas some very welcoming smiles from women and men of my generation. So while it is probable the younger generation is more accepting comparatively to the older generation, on cannot equate age with tolerance in all situations IMHO.

Cheers

Isha

[joanna4]

That's beautiful. Yes, I have also experienced acceptance among younger people. I know that the future keeps getting better. We are blessed to live through it right now.

[Lily Catherine]

On the ground, the younger generation (mine and that just above mine) is largely more accepting, at the very least on the surface. At an anecdotal level, however, there have been those of my age who consider cross-dressing an inherent perversion, those who accept its presence but don't like it, and those who go further than simply not minding. Even though I have come out to a few of my colleagues, they wouldn't have any wish of seeing me dressed. The issue isn't brought up very often anyway, as there are probably other matters in their (and our) minds.

While I was still in junior college and still clutching at the straw that was autogynephilia, I put up a confession on my college's confessions page regarding my cross-dressing. The results (small reference pool warning), however, were largely positive (one GG even claims that she finds male CDs 'very cool').

All the way through school, sexuality education never touched on transgender issues even once; the teachings were conservative and heteronormative, and abstinence was the safest way to have sex in their books. But I digress. Most things on cross-dressing, I found out on my own with the help of the Internet, which is a very polarising environment even with the whole salt shaker.

[Ezekiel]

Yes, younger generations are much more accepting. I'm still waiting to hear negative remarks from anyone in my age that I came out to. It doesn't bother them, they totally respect it, they don't even comment on it like if it was something odd or strange, they treat it with total normality.

Problems come from family, specially those who are 40+ or 50+ years old.

So definitely, younger generations are more accepting, but my experience comes from Spanish, French and German people, so it depends on country. Theres much more freedom of thought in Europe than anywhere else on Earth.

Younger generations from other countries outside Europe would react different, despite being young, because they are still being brainwashed in their respective societal dogmas, as much as the generations in the 50+ age range from Europe have been, so they would be equal in that ground. This will change however...

Not that Europeans are not being currently brainwashed, they are, but in a more subtle way that permits more freedom of thought on these kind of issues.

[Sarah-RT]

I personally think that the younger generations are more accepting, obviously you still get some bigots but generally they are far less judgmental than the older crowd. I put a big part of that down to religion, just my personal opinion on that, a lot of Ireland, formerly the catholic stronghold of the world after the vatican city is now so distant from religion because of all the controversies rather than a disbelief, either way I think the less that mass religion is involved in communities and society the better, not that they dont do good for groups such as the homeless etc but the restrictive lifestyle it presents and the influence it has over people causes a lot of stigmas.

Sarah x

[GinFizzieLizzie]

I think progress is being made, but it's not a linear process. After society takes a few steps forward, there tends to be a reactionary "backlash" that occurs, and things can then stagnate or move backward for a period of time.

I have not yet had the opportunity to visit any countries in Europe, but I imagine there is a bit more tolerance there, in general, with some exceptions of course. Here in the US, it varies greatly from place to place. Even though I live in a large coastal city known to be fairly liberal, there are many places I would not dare venture en femme. At the same time, there are smaller, more rural communities here and there that are surprisingly tolerant. I think perhaps the US is always concerned with proving itself and its "hardness" as a culture, which is why we refer to so many things as a "war on (drugs, terror, etc.)". I hope that over time, especially if our government becomes more diverse and inclusive of women, we will see a change in this philosophy, and not need to put up such a tough front. If we could see that there is nothing necessarily "soft" about tolerance and acceptance, it would go a long way towards hopefully becoming a more welcoming society in general.

As a community, it requires a bit of patience on our part, and a sense of wisdom in choosing our battles wisely, and accepting there may be some we cannot win, but not losing heart.

[jazmine]

That is so cool!

[Lizzy Straite]

I have two children in their early 20s. Both show no I'll against people with different lifestyles. The cool thing about it is the vast difference in their career choices. One in a big city as a chef and one in the military

[Krisi]

No, you just met a more accepting person. There's a current thread where someone went to a convenience store in an "androgynous" look and was attacked by one of the customers.

[Ezekiel]

No, you just met a more accepting person.

No, maybe the one who was attacked, and we all know who we are talking about, met a less accepting person out of the younger generations. And given the description in that thread, probably a criminal.

Younger people, with all the information there is today, and the different education and upbringing they had, are far more open and understanding than older ones.

How are you that certain that younger generations are not more open and understanding?

What are your experiences with younger people to be so strongly sure of your words, enough to be so assertive in your post?

[ShriekCassandra]

Only the ones who have bothered to educate themselves enough to see beyond the boundaries of their social conditioning. The rest are no better than whatever views or norms of their previous generation parents or cultural background raised them to be instilled with and adhere to.

[Ezekiel]

I don't totally agree with you Cassandra, I've seen far more openess in younger generations but not only arround this subject, in general. They are not as bigotted as the previous generations. As I said, I never received a bad comment from any of my friends I came out to, and they interact with me normally, and show no signs of disgust or anything I would call negative. They are absolutely okay with it.

So I don't get this negative views on younger generations, those that are in the age groups less than 30 years old. Sure, there is still a very very long way to go to get full acceptance from everyone, but younger people are more aware and more open to acceptance than anyone else.

My experiences are limited to the europe I must remark and I'm talking about the "west" when I say all this, but even outside this area, and even though I acknowledge things are probably more or less the same as in the past in other regions that are not european / north american, I can still see a little more openess compared to older generations.

[Jorja]

Back in my day when I was first going out and about (late 1960s) one had to be really careful. I had fathers sic the dog on me as I walked down the sidewalk minding my own business. I had the owner of a dry cleaning establishment come after me with a huge pipe wrench because I entered his place of business. I walked around the corner of a building straight into a bunch of guys who beat the holy hell out of me. I was arrested a few times for nothing more than wearing women's clothing.

Yes, today's world is more accepting and and it is getting better. However, it isn't going to happen over night. Every time one of us walks down the street, through the mall, uses mainstream businesses it opens the door just a little more. I have met both men and women over 50 years old and have been totally accepted and befriended by a few. I think a lot of it is your attitude, the way you carry yourself, and your confidence in who you are and to how we relate to other people that makes the difference.

[Saikotsu]

I'd like to think my generation is a lot more accepting. The majority of people I've come out to are in their late 20's and I've been overwhelmed by their support. I can't say whether or not its because I chose my friends well, or because we as a generation are more open minded. Either way, I'm quite blessed. I know some people aren't nearly as lucky.

[Krisi]

Sitting in the doctor's waiting room yesterday (wearing my "tighty whities"), I was reading a story in Time magazine about gays (and I presume crossdressers) in Africa. In some countries in Africa, being gay or even supporting gay ideas is a crime, punishable by prison or even death. So much for "acceptance".

While we may be relatively free to go out in public wearing women's clothing or even presenting ourselves as women in the USA, Europe or Australia, this behavior is not accepted in most of the rest of the world and we should keep this in mind when talking about acceptance.

[Beverley Sims]

Robin, It does make you feel warm inside when that does happen.

Yes, I think younger people are better informed and accept other lifestyles more readily.

[Sarah-RT]

Sitting in the doctor's waiting room yesterday (wearing my "tighty whities"), I was reading a story in Time magazine about gays (and I presume crossdressers) in Africa. In some countries in Africa, being gay or even supporting gay ideas is a crime, punishable by prison or even death. So much for "acceptance".

Anything that appears on facebook in relation to the LGBT community there is always african people condemning it to hell, because it goes against god, thats not an attack on African people or anyone with faith but a lot of the north african countries are very religious as well as anytime caitlyn jenner appears in an article its south state americans trumpeting about sin and hellfire.

The only way to get people on board is to start with a small ripple, all my good friends know, my family knows and things have been good since, I have two gay friends as well and if ever me or some of my buddies hear anything homophobic thrown at them we take it personally, its extremely rare to hear anything though, however it likely happens to others, but if we want to be accepted we have to start in our own ponds with a ripple before moving out, every person we meet while dressed is an opportunity for them to learn about us and our differences and how normal we actually are but we cant do that from our bedrooms and secrecy

Sarah x

[Jennie2]

Listening to my 20 something children, they do seem more accepting of anything 'outside the norm' and take everything in their stride, however when my son found links to cross dressing web sites on my phone, he didn't take that in his stride!!

[Pat]

Different rules when you're talking about parents. ;)


While we may be relatively free to go out in public wearing women's clothing or even presenting ourselves as women in the USA, Europe or Australia, this behavior is not accepted in most of the rest of the world and we should keep this in mind when talking about acceptance.

Fair enough. But can't we celebrate that acceptance is on the rise in all those other places, or do we have to wait for the African nations to become accepting before we can speak of this acceptance thing?