Parenting

We Are Gen X, And We Don't Give A F*ck If You Think We're 'Cheugy'

by Christine Organ
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Scary Mommy and Malte Mueller/Getty

Here’s how things have been playing out on the Internet lately:

Gen Z: Look at those Millennials with their side parts, skinny jeans, and laughing emojis. Aren’t they precious? And that Starbucks venti latte? So cheugy.

Millennials: WTF do you know?! Gen Z be wearing “mom jeans” 😂

Gen X (two weeks after whatever shit blew up on Twitter): Meh…IDGAF

We Gen Xers are the forgotten generation. The latchkey kids. The drinking-water-from-the-hose, staying-out-until-the-streetlights-came-on, making-ourselves-microwave-dinners generation. We grew up knowing that no one gave a shit about what we were doing back then, and we know that no one gives a shit about what we’re doing now.

And you know what? We like it that way.

We don’t get embarrassed and defensive when we find out that our clothes aren’t trendy (I think the kids might say something like bussin’ or drippy, but I’m sure even those words are outdated by now). We don’t mind that our knee-high boots or joggers are considered cheugy. Those boots look hot and joggers are comfortable AF. Sure, my teens might call me “sweaty” when I work hard putting together a presentation for work. But we Gen Xers know that it takes being a little “sweaty” to get shit done.

https://www.tiktok.com/@webkinzwhore143/video/6945562242259684613

For the record, I am on the tail end of the Gen X spectrum. Generation X is defined loosely as folks born between 1965-1980, and I was born in 1977. I’ve seen people born at the end of the ‘80s referred to as Xennials, or most recently “geriatric millennials.” Which damn near caused the entire Internet to burst into a flame of red hot Millennial rage.

Meanwhile, we Gen Xers are over here rolling our eyes. Ain’t nobody got time for that. We’re too tired from our perimenopause night sweats and too busy plucking our chin hairs to care. Yeah, we’re old. We already know this.

Tim Robberts/Getty

Getty Images

In fact, we Gen Xers have been dealing with that weird and confusing mess that comes with being “of a certain age” for a while now. We’re over it and we give zero fucks about this nonsense. And we know the truth – all those “drippy” fashion trends started with us when we were drinking bathtub wop from red solo cups at a college rager in the ‘90s. Don’t believe me? We might have a grainy photo somewhere to prove it. Maybe.

Most Gen Xers are the parents of those Gen Zers who are schooling Millennials and Gen X right now and let me tell you: We DO NOT CARE. We were raised on a heavy diet of “I’m your parent, not your friend” so we give not one single fuck about what our teens and young 20-somethings think of us. These ongoing generational battles are as old as time and so very unoriginal.

You think we’re old and untrendy? Whatevs. (See? We don’t even care that we’re using embarrassing slang.) We’re not cool anymore and we know it. While Millennials, Gen Zers, and even the Boomers tear each other to shreds on Twitter over shit like the cool factor of Target throw pillows (not that cool) and whether to use laughing emojis (yes, please), we’re over here doing our thing, still relatively forgotten and ignored.

And secretly relishing it.

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