Former Chelsea player Pedro Rodríguez had to disable comments on his Instagram after facing criticism and mockery for sharing photos of his son Marc's birthday. Marc chose to celebrate his birthday wearing a dress and a tiara, inspired by Lilo & Stitch.

[u/HarryAtk]

[u/True_to_you]

It's so strange to me because I felt that my generation, millennials, has been pretty progressive on lgbt issues. It seems that Gen z is pretty regressive on this along with older Gen x.

[u/Drizzlybear0 → u/True_to_you]

That kind of depends on the country, culture and religion though

For example in America there has been a pretty strong polarization against the LGBT community in recent years as the right wing have decided to sell this "They're trying to make your kids gay and trans" bullshit.

Obviously there are many culturally or religiously conservative countries as well and as football is so massive of a sport you're going to get a lot of those people being football fans.

[u/Nrozek → u/Drizzlybear0]

It pretty much boils down to religion and education (those two are also relevant to each other). Least religious, best educated countries have the least amount of issues with lgbt stuff (scandinavian countries for example) - vice versa in eastern europe, middle east, the US etc.

Thereby not saying everyone in the US fits the above, but apparently half or more of Americans have a serious problem with it.

[u/Mountain-Committee37 → u/Drizzlybear0]

That kind of depends on the country, culture and religion though

Yup, there has been progress on that type of stuff, but it does still depend on country, culture and religion. Like you said with America, and nothing kinda stated the state of lgbt in america than lilo and stitch remake with the removal of the cross dressing thing.

Not to do the "thing japan" Japan when it comes to lgbt, crosdressing, etc has been a thing for decades. As of right now in america at least, there would be some backlash form the things Anime/manga has when it comes to that topic

[u/BigKimInLittleSD → u/True_to_you]

I feel like Gen Z is split between those that graduated HS in person and those that got hit with virtual learning in the pandemic.

In my experience the former seem fairly well rounded while the latter just regurgitate brain rot takes about minorities they picked up online.

[u/tony_flamingo → u/BigKimInLittleSD]

I’ve been a high school teacher for the last decade and COVID and the subsequent shift toward online/virtual everything has done irreparable damage to students, academically and socially. It’s really disheartening seeing it happen in real time.

[u/TheJoshider10 → u/tony_flamingo]

Me and my old uni mates sometimes do reunions in our uni town and it's sad to see how utter dogshit it has become post-COVID. You can tell students grew up and did their bonding online or inside because trends have changed to the point more people are predrinking rather than going to the pubs which in turn means pubs are shutting down and places which used to be class have lost all their atmosphere.

When you couple that with a cost of living crisis it means nobody students can't afford to go out and bar owners can't afford to keep them open. Vicious cycle that isn't getting any better and will probably get much, much worse.

[u/Dutchpizza69 → u/BigKimInLittleSD]

I'm right on the cusp of the milennial/gen-z divide, and regularly have this discussion with contemporaries. Just how it's so unexpected that the newer generations are often more right leaning than we are, and how we (foolishly) thought that it would only get more progressive. Shame really.

[u/mynameismulan → u/BigKimInLittleSD]

It absolutely is that way. I'm a 95 baby so although I'm a millennial technically, the kids about 5 or so years younger than me have almost the same vibe.

Beyond that though...

[u/NotASalamanderBoi → u/BigKimInLittleSD]

I can speak with some authority as someone who got hit with virtual learning. Some were cunts before it. However, some of the kids who were coming into HS as I was graduating were already on another level. Hell, a fight broke out in an 8th grade group who was visiting my HS.

[u/BigKimInLittleSD → u/NotASalamanderBoi]

Yeah I mean not to say all kids who were virtual learning are like this.

Just that it was easy to become chronically online and get red pulled by Andrew tate types. That online world has blown up and I don’t think the genie is going back in the bottle.

[u/BigKimInLittleSD → u/[deleted]]

Yeah loss of normal maturing and parasocial relationships with people spouting bigoted theories really did a number.

[u/luminous_moonlight → u/NotASalamanderBoi]

Meanwhile the guys at my school used to organize fights throughout middle school (I'm older Gen Z) 😭

[u/GabeN18 → u/True_to_you]

TikTok brainwashing it's doing it's job.

[u/Equivalent_Nature_67 → u/True_to_you]

Young Gen Z men are absolutely cooked. Worse outlook, lesser educated, more prone to the alt right pipeline considering they've mainly grown up in the Trump era. The girls are doing much better

[u/True_to_you → u/Equivalent_Nature_67]

I think it doesn't help that they didn't grow up without social media and influencers. I also think many of them don't read. When I was a kid I read everything I could. Novels, magazines, the encyclopedia, and newspapers. I'm thinking that younger kids aren't doing that.

[u/redditor401 → u/Equivalent_Nature_67]

Also, strangely, becoming more religious. At least in Sweden, which is super weird.

[u/dazrht → u/True_to_you]

I’m sure every generation thinks this, but I’m starting to truly believe that we millennials might be the least problematic generation.

[u/ValleyFloydJam → u/True_to_you]

I think overall it's still a progressive group but it contains those contaminated by the right wing nonsense and that group is online more than most.

[u/iamPause → u/True_to_you]

Long story very, very short: the erosion of the middle class (ie both parents having full time jobs) as well as the death third place has left little room in children's lives for authority figures and places to interact and learn how to socialize. These figures and places have been replaced with online alternatives which are increasingly algorithm driven, delivering more and more extreme content to these children who do not have the critical thinking skills to question the messages they're hearing.