7th
The first part of the equation, though, is where this whole thing gets tricky, and where the problem of anxiety about influence comes in. If we think that this was a valuable experience to have, and if we think opportunities to have this experience no longer abound, it should follow that we want to encourage what few there are so that kids these days can be fortunate enough to have the same kind of adolescences we did. Putting it that way is stacking the deck a bit, so I don’t want to lean on this too heavily. Certainly the present decade has all sorts of problems, and there are many aspects of “the 90s” that I wouldn’t mind seeing return. If there’s anything that argues against merely accepting the social environment as it is, it’s that it changes every seven years or so.
But ultimately, the things I want changed aren’t specifics, but generalities. I would like to see more awareness of sexism, but I don’t necessarily think that it needs to come via take back the night marches. Requiring that a new generation deal with the same issues in the same ways seems like Boomeritis. “Political problems? Well then, by gum, you need protest singers and protest marches! If you’re not doing that, well then, you’re not really dealing with the problem, and you don’t really care! Unlike us! We cared, man!” Replace “protest singers and protest marches” with “hardcore music and community centers” and you have the critical discourse surrounding No Age.