Mythical Millennial #21: Oh snap, Theresa
In case you haven’t heard, Prime Minister Theresa May has called for a General Election on the 8th of June. Some have accused her of arranging a snap election, and although I’m fairly disturbed by the announcement, it wasn’t a huge surprise. Politics aside, there was one thought that immediately sprung to mind. “This is going to screw young people over.”
Figures are still a little fuzzy in regards to the youth vote turnout for the EU referendum. I mentioned it was 36% in the past, however, that number seems to have inflated to 64%, according to the Guardian. So, anyone who says young people aren’t politically engaged should really, well, get more engaged themselves. The real problem lies here: the same Guardian piece claims there was a 90% turnout for voters over the age of 65.
There is a cycle of disenfranchisement, followed by lack of representation, followed by further disenfranchisement. Over 70% of the youth vote voted to stay in the EU. That’s a lot of disappointed people, considering the outcome. Would it be surprising if young people checked their Twitter feeds today and reacted with a muttering of “Nah mate, CBA with this”? No. Why would they want their hearts broken once more?
My fear is this. A snap election happening a mere six weeks away is too soon. There is no time to mobilize, educate, or engage the proportion of the populous who will be affected by future policies for the longest amount of time. ‘Hip’ PR campaigns by Tinder or Uber will not be enough to move this generation. And we’ll be punished for our apathy. I just hope I’m wrong about all this, but for now, all I can say is this. Make sure you’re registered to vote. Once you’ve done that, make sure your pals are registered. I’ll be back in two weeks with more millennial #GE2017 chat.
A not-so-guilty pleasure of mine has been listening to the darkly funny self-branded ‘comedy murder podcast’ My Favorite Murder on the Tube ride home. Ironically, listening to it makes me feel safer. I’ve been pondering an explanation for this paradox, and I think I’ve figured it out. It’s vocal fry.
If you haven’t heard of vocal fry, here’s how JSTOR describes it. “in which the pitch is often lowered, using creaky voice, much like you might imagine coming from the gravelly tones of a respectable aristocratic gentleman.” Hosts Karen and Georgia not only speak with vocal fry, but also utilise Clueless-esque up-talk and Valley Girl ‘likes’ and ‘literally’s. Women podcasters have suffered from mountains of angry emails from listeners, saying “love the content, but hate that lady presenter’s voice.”
That’s the thing, though. I love every “um”, “okay”, and “like” that roll off their tongues. Why? Because they’re unafraid to be that way. I speak like that, and have often found myself ashamed of it, for fear of sounding dim. Some say the policing of young women’s language by their elders are inherently rooted in misogyny — and I’m inclined to agree. So, I say, embrace the “like, literally” in your life, dude. It’ll help us all ease up a little.
Let Lord Huron sing you to a blissful, dreamy state.
The Night We Met by Lord Huron
Two things I’ve been enjoying lately.
- Jess Bolton’s Resist List. It’s a weekly list of practical actions for activism, and it’s honestly really wel curated. Want to take action but don’t know where to start? With Resist List, all the legwork is done for you. (No more excuses.)
- The absolute badass that is Deja Foxx, 16-year-old Arizona resident. Her passionate speech about the right to access to contraception was just 🔥. Standing up to a GOP senator in front of a crowd and schooling him? I want to be her when I grow up.
See you in two weeks, lovely peeps.
B x
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Originally published on Mythical Millennial.
