We often relate the word "youth" interchangeably with the concept of "age", but is this natural inclination a reflection of society's obsession with the transient physical aspects of youth or simply a deeply rooted ageist mindset?
As ironic as it seems, this writer (youthful as yours truly is) wiki-ed the word "youth" for a more comprehensive definition of the term. The search had thrown up several illuminating results: from the demarcation of youth by the United Nations General Assembly as within a specific age limit "between the ages of 15 and 24 years", to World Bank's view of youth as a particular stage or phrase in one's life "between childhood and adulthood."
It is equally important to recognise that youth is also an attitude or a state of mind. Youthfulness has been steorotypically associated with character attributes like impulsiveness, idealism, stubborness, rebelliousness and adventurousness. Qualities like energy, an inherent sense of wonder and a quality of imagination have been, rightly or wrongly, seen as belonging to the realm of youth.
Now that we have gotten those boring definitions, which are strangely remimiscent of the notes we imbibe copiously in lectures everyday, out of the way, let us reflect on this issue with more contempory examples, to see if there is any relevance of these black and white definitions in our lives.
Take the recent hype on the age restrictions of female customers on ladies' nights in our local clubs for instance.
A woman in her 50s was denied the privilege of free drinks on "Ladies Night" by a club because she was above 35 years old. This is clearly discrimination masking as a door policy.
While we could easily understand the rationale behind this policy, which is to attract potential male customers with the presence of attractive (read: young aka age below 35) ladies in order to boost the sale of drinks, does it mean that we should condone it?
More crucially, we see that the relationship or interplay between youth and age here narrows strictly down to the physical aspects of youth.
It is sad that even in this present age and time, such objectifying generalizations about the desirable qualities of women still abound.
Recently, I went to Acid Bar together with a bunch of friends. Even though the legal age limit for entrance is eighteen years old, they still clearly frowned on having us as customers. The reason? They preferred having customers above twenty one years of age as they tend to spend more.
Though we were not turned away from the pub, we were told (nicely, to their credit) that we had to at least chalk up a bill of $150 (about $20 each for our group of seven) to justify our occupancy of a table.
So here, one of the premises of generalizing age with youth is their low purchasing power. Is this another subtle form of discrimination, even if it makes pure commercial cents (pun intended)?
Even the latest move by Citibank to launch a new credit card that allows young customers to apply even if they do not earn a single cent, seems guilty of assuming that certain qualities associated to youth that is tied up with age.
This new scheme by Citibank is called Clear Card. Under the Clear Card scheme, consumers aged 18 and above can apply for the card which allows a maximum monthly credit limit of $500.
The underlying commercial sense behind it is debatable, but my take is that youths are assumed to be the more impulsive buyers, as compared to mature, level-headed adults, and therefore the credit limit.
However, they, being 18 years and above, are deemed as old enough to have more material wants and also the ability to shoulder the added responsibility of managing their own finances, thus the age limit.
We see that youth is often associated with age, not only in the policies of private companies, but also those of the government (i.e. legal age limit set for buying cigarettes, alcohol or engaging in sexual activities).
Some are justified because age is a good indicator of the development of an individual, for example, being below sixteen is judged appropriately as not having the emotional maturity to having consensual sex, and therefore deemed illegal.
However, as seen from the three abovementioned scenarios, some are but gross generalizations of what it means to be a youth.
Youth is all about overthrowing boundaries, so what's age got to do with it? I can already see those "young at heart" adults nodding in unison. hooked
So what do you feel about this issue? Can the youth really be confined to an age limit? Is it just a category? Or is it more of a spirit that we all feel, even when we become 40 years and older? Hooked has given its perspective, now it's your turn.
Images courtesy of:
www.flickr.com/photos/konaboy/113324063/
http://www.youthrights.org/merch/images/uploads/decriminalize_youth_snapshot.gif
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