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Nope. You're conflating two _very_ unrelated trends to prove your pre-existing 'can this generation become any more precious' belief. For example, people in In

Nope. You're conflating two _very_ unrelated trends to prove your pre-existing 'can this generation become any more precious' belief. For example, people in India are generally opposite of what you might call 'precious'. Parents will very openly call out their kids on their body size, their appearance, there whatever. Young men and womanly will openly (and sometimes, far too much) discuss relative attractiveness of persons -- often admitting that while they themselves are not that attractive, so and so is even uglier, etcetera. They are, I would imagine, not in any sense of the word 'precious' or coddled. The South Asian cultures are also the epitome of what might be considered 'collective' culture, versus the more American individualistic, 'me-me-me' culture. And yet. People never ever ever get naked. Ever. Not even when they shower. In their private bathrooms. With no one watching. There's joke about how South Asians don't get naked even when having sex (which, I'm told, appears to reflect reality). You would imagine, with people so comfortable with friends and families (note South Asian men have traditionally been verrry comfortable being physically close to other men, including holding hands, frequent hugs, etcetera), they would not be as shy about nudity. And yet they are. Here's another datapoint: the Japanese, who are still culturally very family-community centered, will get naked at a drop of a feather. Use your 'precious generation doesn't want to get naked' theory to explain these, and your theory will pass the basic test.

Wintamute 11y ago
The difference here is we're not observing long standing cultural attitudes in millennials, but a very short term shift that defies their parent culture. You're criticising OP for not comparing apples and oranges ~ doesn't make sense. OP's point stands.
- benten10 11y ago
  OP claims to explain the 'shying away from nudity' phenomena using the 'ahh those precious young people' argument. I argue that it's not necessarily the 'precious youth' that is shy of nudity, and I present a cross-cultural proof that shyness of nudity is not necessarily due to his presumed cause. Comparing Apples to Oranges is exactly what's needed here. By doing so, I'm helping isolate the variable OP suggests affects Apples is not so. Imagine he'd claimed that Apples are suddenly brown because of 'those damn young trees'. If I show that those darned young trees elsewhere don't have the same issue, then there'd be a greater need on the OP's side to actually provide the proof that it's those darned precious young people. OP needs to provide a greater proof that it's because of those 'precious youth'. I might argue that it's due to increased cultural influence of more body-conservative cultures, or because (ridiculous as it may sound) online nudity is now so common, people don't want their online versions to be identified to offline bodies [which is VERY different from what OP argues].
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > but a very short term shift that defies their parent culture. Except its not a "very short term shift that defies their parent culture", its a long term drift in the broader culture, as the article notes: Gen-Xers are notably different than Boomers on this, in the same direction (though not to the same degree) as Millenials.
Tharkun 11y ago
The Japanese are a bit special. Japan is hot and humid, and traditionally a lot of the labour would get you wet. It was not uncommon for Japanese men and women to work the fields, or catch fish, naked or nearly naked. In fact, some early Western visitors commented as such. The perceived Japanese sense of modesty and prudeness is a relative new phenomenon, instigated after WW2 by American prudeness.
xlm1717 11y ago
I believe the article and discussion were only on US culture and how it changes as the years go by. Of course using the "precious generation doesn't want to get naked" theory won't explain those, they are a completely different culture to the US.

Wintamute 11y ago

The difference here is we're not observing long standing cultural attitudes in millennials, but a very short term shift that defies their parent culture. You're criticising OP for not comparing apples and oranges ~ doesn't make sense. OP's point stands.

benten10 11y ago
OP claims to explain the 'shying away from nudity' phenomena using the 'ahh those precious young people' argument. I argue that it's not necessarily the 'precious youth' that is shy of nudity, and I present a cross-cultural proof that shyness of nudity is not necessarily due to his presumed cause. Comparing Apples to Oranges is exactly what's needed here. By doing so, I'm helping isolate the variable OP suggests affects Apples is not so. Imagine he'd claimed that Apples are suddenly brown because of 'those damn young trees'. If I show that those darned young trees elsewhere don't have the same issue, then there'd be a greater need on the OP's side to actually provide the proof that it's those darned precious young people. OP needs to provide a greater proof that it's because of those 'precious youth'. I might argue that it's due to increased cultural influence of more body-conservative cultures, or because (ridiculous as it may sound) online nudity is now so common, people don't want their online versions to be identified to offline bodies [which is VERY different from what OP argues].
dragonwriter 11y ago
> but a very short term shift that defies their parent culture. Except its not a "very short term shift that defies their parent culture", its a long term drift in the broader culture, as the article notes: Gen-Xers are notably different than Boomers on this, in the same direction (though not to the same degree) as Millenials.

Tharkun 11y ago

The Japanese are a bit special. Japan is hot and humid, and traditionally a lot of the labour would get you wet. It was not uncommon for Japanese men and women to work the fields, or catch fish, naked or nearly naked. In fact, some early Western visitors commented as such. The perceived Japanese sense of modesty and prudeness is a relative new phenomenon, instigated after WW2 by American prudeness.

xlm1717 11y ago

I believe the article and discussion were only on US culture and how it changes as the years go by. Of course using the "precious generation doesn't want to get naked" theory won't explain those, they are a completely different culture to the US.