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Welcome to Gen Y Guyland, where you can take part in binge drinking, casual sex and a series of dead end jobs.
According to a recent Newsweek article, there are over 22 million young men ages 16-26 who have entered this evolving phase of American “guyland.” With these ‘guys’ composing more than 15 percent of the total male population in the United States, this reported lack of responsibility is alarming.
The article highlights the book Guyland written by sociologist Michael Kimmel. According to his web site, the book is:
based on more than 400 interviews over a four-year spam with young men, ages 16-26. Kimmel’s study shows that the guys who live in “Guyland” are mostly white, middle-class, totally confused and cannot commit to their relationships, work or lives. Although they seem baffled by the riddles of manhood and responsibility, they submit to the “Guy Code,” where locker-room behaviors, sexual conquests, bullying, violence and assuming a cocky jock pose can rule over the sacrifice and conformity of marriage and family.
Seems a little extreme.
Despite the hype and language used to describe his book, I think Kimmel does highlight aspects of a sociocultural trend in American culture. Kimmel describes the Guyland lifestyle in his Today Show interview.
Kimmel highlights three recent changes in American culture that has lead to this Guyland lifestyle:
I think there is a transformation of young American men. With the likes of Tucker Max, there does seem to be a trend of idolizing the stereotypical frat boy, even ten years post grad. But who is to say this is just a male phenomena? I think the Sex and the City mentality could be just as pervasive. Is female empowerment, both in career and personal life, indirectly hurting our Gen Y men?
What do you think about the concept of Guyland?
I see Guyland behavior happening all of the time. I strongly believe that for men and women alike, its a release from having to conform to so many rules Gen Y has been subjected to. Our generation grew up in an era of so much discovery, uncertainty and human experimentation (that's my term for all of the extra testing we had to do in school) and I am more than confident that our behavior is our way of rebelling.
And I agree with Kimmel on his gender role observations. NeYo's song "Miss Independent" says it all, "A woman who wants but don't need you." I know many Gen Y men who do not like nor know how to handle that mantality without feeling like less of a man. I wouldn't say that this mentality is hurting our Gen Y men but it is showing them that we are more concerned with being your equal than just your doting wife and mother of your children. It's not about who wears the pants, it's more about who's going to iron them. Personally my fiance irons mine. =)
Great post, it got me to thinking!
Good article. But, who do you think these "frat boys" are binge drinking with, having casual sex with, and working in dead in jobs with.... young females. I agree that the lack of maturity does seem more pronounced in young men but some of it can also be attributed to the expectation of society.
I think, for the most part, it's a myth. I think the media is going out of its way these day to pull down young men. Most all of our great innovations of this century come from young men. Seriously, who do you think started Facebook?
I also agree with Scott. If this behavior is indeed an epidemic (which I don't think it is), who are they doing this with? Are we to believe that the young men are running around acting like idiots while the young women go to bed early to get to their jobs in which they are supposedly more successful? Then who is in the Girls Gone Wild videos? - Oh wait, that's just a minority of young women, right? We can't say the same for young men extending frat life into their late 20s?
What I think is that young men need to start speaking up for themselves when this kind of image is put out there. Don't stand for it. The author interviewed 400 guys. There are 80 MILLION millennials out there. That is hardly a statistically significant sample.
I'm an old Gen X chick, but I can't stand to see this. I remember when they did it to the women of my generation. It's not any better to do it to the men of Gen Y.
Agreed, GenerationXpert. You can find guys like that in any generation, but they're hardly the entire demographic. Sounds like a slow news day to me--which of course it wasn't. Newsweek ought to be able to do better than that, I think.
I am a Gen Y male, recently graduated from college, and of course I was a frat boy. To me this story is funny (not offensive), and it is without a doubt pulling a minority out of a large population.
To those few guys that are capable of binge drinking regularly, and getting up for work every day without being fired, I am impressed. Personally, I am not capable of that, and ditched that routine my junior year of college.
Give us a break... Track my life for a week, in bed at 9pm and up at 6am. We're not all bad :)
Thanks for the comments everyone!
I have plenty of male friends and acquaintances that definitely fit this ‘Guyland’ stereotype, and many that are mature and responsible. This transition period from teen to adult has always existed. For Gen Y, this transition period is longer (due to health advancements/longevity of life, later age of childbirth, etc) that more media attention is now being paid to it.
My questions revolve around whether this is an actual phenomena that we should be worried about, or just a media saturated story.
It's not a phenomena, it's always been there, they just gave a different label. The description has been the key demographic in the mind of advertisers for decades: 18-24 male.
Longevity, pushing marriage later in life & the other might have extended it 16-26 or 28 (but no surprises here).
Honestly? I'm one of them (minus the fact that I'm married), and I blame the movie Old School. Was there this "issue" before Old School came out? NO! There is something endearing about picturing yourself in 15 to 20 years with the same mentality you have now. Hell, I organized a Beer Fest with guys who are 30+, and it was amazing, they all had the time of their lives!
Also, Probably the most over used line that this group uses that will never grow old (much like our mentality)? "I have many leatherbound books. My apartment smells of rich mahogany"
The impact of the hugely high divorce rate in parents of Gen Y children has to be accounted for in these results somewhere. Shifting gender roles and longer life spans are in there too, but I think the prolonged adolescence and unwillingness to commit make sense when you consider that half those guys watched their families fall apart as a result of divorce and are maybe unwilling to take chances with their own families.
Other than the physical unhealthiness of binge drinking and casual sex, and the financial ramifications of dead-end jobs if they are low-paying, I seen nothing wrong with either sex delaying stable relationships and families. Raising a family takes work, unfortunately -- both work to raise the children and work to earn more money because children cost money. People naturally want to work less and preserve their free time if they have the option.
Great post, Carla. I think the Business Week Article is very accurate, and it does have a lot to do with the idea of "emerging adulthood." We live longer, and get married later. Guys graduate college and they aren't ready to get married or settle down. Women often aren't either. But there is a big difference because Gen Y women are the first generation of women to have all these opportunities from day one, so it makes sense that they are more driven career wise. It also may have something to do with guys maturing later. Whatever it is, "Guyland" is real, a ton of my friends are wandering around in it right now, but I think I'm over it :)
@Parsing Nonsense I think lack of maturity and women’s gender roles are major factors. Perhaps unwillingness to commit to a relationship may stem from American divorce rates later down the line. I doubt that these young men described(especially age range 18-24) are thinking about marriage, let alone divorce.
@Eileen- Totally agree. I think career and financial planning as a single and while in a relationship is the best thing young professionals can do for their future and family.
@Ryan- In my personal group of friends, the women are often more career driven and mature than our male counterparts. I have girl friends from undergrad that are traveling, studying, working and volunteering around the world. Many of my successful male friends still act like they are college freshmen. No matter what our gender, we all go through a weird post-college transition. I guess for Gen Y this transition maybe longer and accompanied by media attention.
@Ryan Healy, could you elaborate more on the opportunities that Gen Y women have that Gen X women did not? I know that workplaces have undergone a number of changes in terms of organization and structure, but everyone I knew had career plans then, too.
And "living longer" compared to what? That sounds like it both falls into common misconceptions about average lifespans and fails to take into account the timeframe over which average lifespans have gotten longer.
The average age when people marry has been getting longer over decades as well. The idea that boys mature more slowly has been around for quite some time, too.
I'll bet that the percentage of "guys" who behave this way is not all that different from previous generations. There are more people who are Gen Y, so it looks like a bigger group--but it just looks like one. Proportionally, it probably isn't.
Gen Y is part of a continuum. That's not the same as initiating change.
The same can easily be said of women/girls in this age group. I've met plenty of "women" who have yet to mature beyond the "ooh I'm gonna be a rich and famous model" phase and realized it ain't happening.
Personally, I think it's our society and what's going on in the world that's having a de-maturing effect on young adults. None of us want to deal with the peak oil crisis or increasing government totalitarianism or the other real, tough problems of the world so we act like babies so no one expects more from us. It's sad, growing up we were told we were the future and we'd be look toward to change the world, and now we're being bullied and ridiculed by old people who've just become their parents.
Personally, at a very young age I was forced to realize the world isn't a giant playground but unfortunately a lot of our generation has yet to see this fundamental truth.
My college didn't have frats, and I personally never was a partier or a drinker. However, I wonder if any former/current Fraternity or Sorority members could find statistics on membership numbers. With more and more people being able to enroll in college, I wonder if the "Frat boy" life style is more popular simply because there are significantly more "ex-frat boys" in the population due to increased pledge rates (as well as just a growing size to accommodate the increased number college students) for frats, specifically, and increased college enrollment in general.
When, in previous generations, there was a good chance you didn't go to college, you just got a job in the local industry at 18 (or were drafted) you never got into that partying habit. With more people going to college, I wonder if that's contributing to the growing sense of a 'gap' between being a Teenager/kid, and being an adult. The demarcation line, is no longer the end of high school, it's no longer, graduate and get a job. Now we have, graduate high school and then go back to school for 2, 4, 6, or even 8 more years in some cases. There is a significant gap where you've graduated high school, you're an adult, but your responsibilities in life are still the exact same as when you were in high school, and when you finally get out of school, these "guys" are left trying to figure out where they fit in now that they need to work 8 to 10 hours a day, pay bills (including some freaking huge college loans) and act like mature adults. They were told they were adults when they were 18, and they behaved like frat boys since then (if not before), why does a piece of paper change that all of a sudden.
I'm probably way off base, I'm a biologist, not a psychologist.
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