"Probably the first generation of women in history to effectively shield their children from casual abuse" Agree here -- my mom made sure that my whole childhood I had basically a bowlcut or a mullet. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I think Boomettes had a sense it was perverse to try to glam up little kids. It was very weird when in the 2000s moms started dolling their 7 year olds up like little models.
I used Boomeress. It was funny that you used millennielles- the matron title fits higher or midstatus/middle class and up ones, for the lower class ones I defaulted to "millennial gurlz" because of vague memories of late 20s/early 30s "Juicy" types circa the early 2010s (although those types were probably overhated & the matron types back then underhated in retrospect, the use of the monroe quote still seems annoying even from the outside looking in lol).
Boomette? To me boomeress fits their current elderly status better- I would need to hear boomette justified.
To me, "ette" implies a borderline French/manic girlishness. It reminds me of Toadette from Mario Kart (which might be one of the main ways zoomettes actually heard the suffix). Being more mature even in their 20s, boomeresses to me don't evoke the SAME level of girlishness, although some especially Great Lakes Mainline Protestant vibe types might be the the last vestiges of true Before Times femininity in the bleeding heart/Mrs. Rodgers sense- absording the soft/chivalrous masculine culturally Christian yet dutiful/"wave to the mailman/support your local library" newspaper community/still fighting high trustiness from their GI gen male mentors. Were probably the last generation of women to take seriously moral yet apolitical advice/values from MALE mentors at least sometimes- the ones who hate their father often genuinely did have wife beater rapist abusive drunken cheating shellshock asshole Bible Thumping stereotype but actually that WW2 vet fathers but at least a certain cohort of empaths took Mr. Rodgers more seriously than just about any decent sized cohort of silent gen, boomer or gen X men & became more genuinely empathetic people.
Gen X women who are boymom-coded combine some boomeress, latchkey crone and millennial matron traits I noticed, in a relatively good way (relatively).
Gen X women learned grit masculinity the best, boomeresses adopted a certain tolerance more earnestly than other cohorts & were safely aged as they seem to lack a fear of "soyboys" or overly soft men in a way older and younger cohorts of women have at least a little more of, including millennielles, as long as he holds the door open for grandma. Perhaps a form of general boomer obliviousness.
Yeah, the "Toddlers and Tiaras" phase was ... very odd, I felt like someone definitely did not outgrow their Barbies and just decided to dress up their kids instead
One thing I want to add about Low Millenials and High Zoomers is I've never seen a sort of microgeneration worse at aging. Nobody thinks it will happen to them, everybody's bad at it, but Zillenials seem really, really prone to psychic damage from entering and approaching their thirties and part of their seething at old people feels like an extension of this. Like we're idiots for not being as miserable as they expect to be, and they look at Alphas like "Where the fuck did you come from?!?" The worse couple of baby-baton passers I've seen in my life.
Ooooof, “high zoomer” (27) here and this is spot on. Pretty much everyone my age is either having frequent quarter life crises about “missing out on their 20’s” or pretending that Covid didn’t count and they’re only 24 instead of 28. 27-29 year old Zoomettes do the latter a lot.
For low status zoomers, I think it’s a way of coping with the incel/sexlessness problem our generation has paired with online zoomette’s neurotic views on age gap relationships. “I might’ve missed out on getting pussy from 19 to 27 but trust me, once I get my shit together, I’m going to live like Chad did at 22. I’m not old yet, I can still fuck 21 year olds without it being weird”
I love the piece, Walt, but I think Boomettes are more famous for opting to go on euro river cruises and live a boomerslop public television ideal lifestyle instead of helping out with the grandkids. That’s been a common trope of angry overwhelmed Millenial moms. I’ve seen it firsthand. Boomers preached penny pinching and financial responsibility in the name of a better future for the family, which ended up meaning that they skimped on aid for their Millenial children so that they could party and spend all that money on boomerslop later on.
Idk I feel like this might be Millennial women being kind of entitled because comparing the Boomettes to latchkey crones I know the former are way more generous with their time and Zoomettes I've dated seem usually not to expect it at all or at least much less
Going to agree here. I mean my mom totally goes on euro river cruises and lives a PBS lifestyle but is *also* obsessed with her grandkids and spends as much time as possible with them. Only millennials would actually resent their parents for going on a vacation when they're retired lol.
Yeah, I do not get the hate on the retired and elderly that Millennials and I think the oldest Zoomers are about.
"My money! Your free labor?"
Bitch, your money? Their free labor? I have been watching Millennials and Zoomers make the most "The real family in your life is your dipshit late high school and college friends" entertainment and saying all "I don't owe you jack for your bare minimum roof over my head, food on my plate ah parenting" and then like... you wanna cut all the ties and flip your folks the bird on the way out but still get free babysitting? Maaaaan....
As a zoomer, I don't care if you enjoy your retired years and hike mount everest, my complaint is just ACTUALLY RETIRE and give me your job and GTFO of congress and Fortune 500 boards ig. Also stop assuming all of young people's problems are their fault, even if it's hard to grasp for someone raised like you.
I agree they should retire. But also, most of them are happy to retire and do it as soon as possible. It's just a small minority of people with raging egos who don't but yes they suck.
I think there is truth to this, but there are also a lot of boomers and older Xers who just can't afford to retire. Either because of wage stagnation (which started in the 70s/80s) or their retirement was wiped out in 2008. Or both.
I think it runs a range. Sounds like your mom is very balanced with it all. I don’t begrudge the boomers their comforts, but when it’s 100% comfort and no help, I can see why some Millenials get mad about it.
My grandma was Greatest Gen/Silent Gen hybrid and that cohort is by far the best grandparents
Boomer grandparents are kind of give or take, but when they give it's all about spoiling the grandkids with bluey coloring books or whatever, as opposed to the older generation generally enjoying your time/company (or if theyre not, instilling the virtue in the grandkids in one way or another to make them tolerable company.
Not even talking spanking or beating necessarily, that was mom/dad's job, but the old worlders had their ways
"Probably the first generation of women in history to effectively shield their children from casual abuse" Agree here -- my mom made sure that my whole childhood I had basically a bowlcut or a mullet. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I think Boomettes had a sense it was perverse to try to glam up little kids. It was very weird when in the 2000s moms started dolling their 7 year olds up like little models.
am I the only one who interpreted Little Miss Sunshine as everyone ignoring that the grandfather was obviously molesting Olive?
I used Boomeress. It was funny that you used millennielles- the matron title fits higher or midstatus/middle class and up ones, for the lower class ones I defaulted to "millennial gurlz" because of vague memories of late 20s/early 30s "Juicy" types circa the early 2010s (although those types were probably overhated & the matron types back then underhated in retrospect, the use of the monroe quote still seems annoying even from the outside looking in lol).
Boomette? To me boomeress fits their current elderly status better- I would need to hear boomette justified.
To me, "ette" implies a borderline French/manic girlishness. It reminds me of Toadette from Mario Kart (which might be one of the main ways zoomettes actually heard the suffix). Being more mature even in their 20s, boomeresses to me don't evoke the SAME level of girlishness, although some especially Great Lakes Mainline Protestant vibe types might be the the last vestiges of true Before Times femininity in the bleeding heart/Mrs. Rodgers sense- absording the soft/chivalrous masculine culturally Christian yet dutiful/"wave to the mailman/support your local library" newspaper community/still fighting high trustiness from their GI gen male mentors. Were probably the last generation of women to take seriously moral yet apolitical advice/values from MALE mentors at least sometimes- the ones who hate their father often genuinely did have wife beater rapist abusive drunken cheating shellshock asshole Bible Thumping stereotype but actually that WW2 vet fathers but at least a certain cohort of empaths took Mr. Rodgers more seriously than just about any decent sized cohort of silent gen, boomer or gen X men & became more genuinely empathetic people.
Gen X women who are boymom-coded combine some boomeress, latchkey crone and millennial matron traits I noticed, in a relatively good way (relatively).
Gen X women learned grit masculinity the best, boomeresses adopted a certain tolerance more earnestly than other cohorts & were safely aged as they seem to lack a fear of "soyboys" or overly soft men in a way older and younger cohorts of women have at least a little more of, including millennielles, as long as he holds the door open for grandma. Perhaps a form of general boomer obliviousness.
Yes
Dude no
I’ll be using “Boomette” in the future, thanks for that.
Yeah, the "Toddlers and Tiaras" phase was ... very odd, I felt like someone definitely did not outgrow their Barbies and just decided to dress up their kids instead
Super on point, Walt.
One thing I want to add about Low Millenials and High Zoomers is I've never seen a sort of microgeneration worse at aging. Nobody thinks it will happen to them, everybody's bad at it, but Zillenials seem really, really prone to psychic damage from entering and approaching their thirties and part of their seething at old people feels like an extension of this. Like we're idiots for not being as miserable as they expect to be, and they look at Alphas like "Where the fuck did you come from?!?" The worse couple of baby-baton passers I've seen in my life.
100%. Being mad and thinking it's cringe that old people aren't as miserable as they expect to be totally nails it.
Ooooof, “high zoomer” (27) here and this is spot on. Pretty much everyone my age is either having frequent quarter life crises about “missing out on their 20’s” or pretending that Covid didn’t count and they’re only 24 instead of 28. 27-29 year old Zoomettes do the latter a lot.
For low status zoomers, I think it’s a way of coping with the incel/sexlessness problem our generation has paired with online zoomette’s neurotic views on age gap relationships. “I might’ve missed out on getting pussy from 19 to 27 but trust me, once I get my shit together, I’m going to live like Chad did at 22. I’m not old yet, I can still fuck 21 year olds without it being weird”
Disappointed in the no comment for Alphettes. My wife was particularly offended by the lack of representation in this piece.
I love the piece, Walt, but I think Boomettes are more famous for opting to go on euro river cruises and live a boomerslop public television ideal lifestyle instead of helping out with the grandkids. That’s been a common trope of angry overwhelmed Millenial moms. I’ve seen it firsthand. Boomers preached penny pinching and financial responsibility in the name of a better future for the family, which ended up meaning that they skimped on aid for their Millenial children so that they could party and spend all that money on boomerslop later on.
Idk I feel like this might be Millennial women being kind of entitled because comparing the Boomettes to latchkey crones I know the former are way more generous with their time and Zoomettes I've dated seem usually not to expect it at all or at least much less
Going to agree here. I mean my mom totally goes on euro river cruises and lives a PBS lifestyle but is *also* obsessed with her grandkids and spends as much time as possible with them. Only millennials would actually resent their parents for going on a vacation when they're retired lol.
Yeah, I do not get the hate on the retired and elderly that Millennials and I think the oldest Zoomers are about.
"My money! Your free labor?"
Bitch, your money? Their free labor? I have been watching Millennials and Zoomers make the most "The real family in your life is your dipshit late high school and college friends" entertainment and saying all "I don't owe you jack for your bare minimum roof over my head, food on my plate ah parenting" and then like... you wanna cut all the ties and flip your folks the bird on the way out but still get free babysitting? Maaaaan....
As a zoomer, I don't care if you enjoy your retired years and hike mount everest, my complaint is just ACTUALLY RETIRE and give me your job and GTFO of congress and Fortune 500 boards ig. Also stop assuming all of young people's problems are their fault, even if it's hard to grasp for someone raised like you.
I agree they should retire. But also, most of them are happy to retire and do it as soon as possible. It's just a small minority of people with raging egos who don't but yes they suck.
I think there is truth to this, but there are also a lot of boomers and older Xers who just can't afford to retire. Either because of wage stagnation (which started in the 70s/80s) or their retirement was wiped out in 2008. Or both.
I think it runs a range. Sounds like your mom is very balanced with it all. I don’t begrudge the boomers their comforts, but when it’s 100% comfort and no help, I can see why some Millenials get mad about it.
That AI image is hilariously accurate
I think you need to add that the Gen Alph boys seem to all be genius DJs without any training. Very Pro.
Mass adoption of shortform video was good for something I guess
Totally enjoying reading this! You nailed boomers (of which I am one on the young end!) Thanks for your insight. Great stuff.
My grandma was Greatest Gen/Silent Gen hybrid and that cohort is by far the best grandparents
Boomer grandparents are kind of give or take, but when they give it's all about spoiling the grandkids with bluey coloring books or whatever, as opposed to the older generation generally enjoying your time/company (or if theyre not, instilling the virtue in the grandkids in one way or another to make them tolerable company.
Not even talking spanking or beating necessarily, that was mom/dad's job, but the old worlders had their ways
boomer females want to spend time with grandkids?!
Well done as usual, Walt. I've got it bookmarked.
You should release a digital version of these as a book so you can claim you published a book. I don't know how to keep it from Amazon banning though.
Spot on with the Zoomettes too. I've seen girls my age say the most fucked up shit to each other and actually mean it...
Good work, Walt, but are you zeitgeistmaxxing, bro?
That was actually... incredible.
How could you test these hypotheses?
Humbert Humbert ah
hmmm op seems to have an axe to grind with millenial women I wonder what cohort he is
I also love them more than any other one
As an elder Millennial, I agree--our babes were pretty great. But I married an elder Zoomette; I'd never look back.