By Eline Kullock
I just read an article on Folha On Line in which an actress, wearing a short dress (not even that short in the eyes of a baby boomer,) went to various prestigious Brazilian Universities (including the Law School at USP, FMU at University Ibriapuera, and PUC).  The actress, pretending to be a student, asked random questions like, “Where’s the bathroom?” just to test the reaction of students to her outfit.

Ironically, this actress suffered the same crazy reactions as the Uniban student Geisy Arruda, who was violently bullied, insulted, and ostracized by her classmates for wearing a short mini skirt.  The actress did undergo less violent reactions than Geisy.    In Geisy’s case, the police even had to get involved.

As I watch and reflect on this, I think about the pendulum theory.  Hippies created a counter culture, starting a revolution. Non-conformist went it came to war, they rebelled against the values of their time.

As society obtains certain liberal values, the pendulum seems to swing back to the other side.  There’s a rebellion against these liberal values, and a quest for a “middle ground” of the pendulum.

Are young people who rejected the micro-skirt attempting to express what can and can’t be done?  But this is the generation that CAN DO ANYTHING.   ANYTHING.  TOTAL FREEDOM FOR ALL.

Of course this “can do anything” mindset doesn’t encompass harmful actions, such as stealing, and killing.  However, it does include posing naked on the Internet.  It seems that young people don’t care about this.  “The body is mine, and I can do what I want with it.”    This has always been the message Gen Y has expressed.  A level of zero prejudice.

Even in my lectures young people are less prejudice than baby boomers.  There’s usually the sense that they accept people more as they are.  The accept diversity.

However, I’m really surprised at the number of weddings I see among very young people.  Up until very recently, wedding rates were low.  Our generation, the baby boomers, were revolutionaries.  We opened up doors for people to simply live together, without the need for a signed piece of paper, a priest, or a rabbi.

Generation X lived together and usually didn’t care so much about the tradition of marriage and religious ceremonies.   Especially because the fairytale of a virgin bride isn’t even close to reality anymore, it’s become totally irrelevant.   And yet, why is that in big Brazilian cities like Sao Paulo and Rio, I see more and more young people really wanting to get married?  What’s more, they want the classic wedding that we considered really old-fashioned in our day!

Does all this have to do with the shift and movement of counterculture?  Is this a movement of a current generation saying “enough!” to certain things?  Enough to “you can do anything?”   I can only understand the ban on the miniskirt (not only in the case of Geisy but also in all the Universities the actress went to), through the pendulum theory.   But if this isn’t the explanation, then I’m completely confused by the signals this generation is sending.  Perhaps some college students can explain what’s going on to me…

By Fabiana Gabrielli e Bianca Ferreira

Lots of people talk about Generation Y’s superficiality. Researchers find that it takes Gen Y more written pages, to say less, compared to past generations. Also, it’s often stated that the time they spend on the web, robs them of a dedicated attitude to deeper issues.

They are supposedly self-centered. Egocentric. They only think about their own personal success. Yet, the experience I just lived in the past week actually says the exact opposite. Thankfully.

I was lecturing for University students, at USP, and was really impressed with the way these students seem to counter every stereotype about Generation Y. About 80 students were sitting there, excited to hear about management and leadership.

From the large amount of interaction and discussion, it was possible to see, just how hungry these students are to learn. I noticed a high intellectual level, and a strong desire for personal development.

These young students, who were around 20 years old, talked about the Kyoto protocol, macroeconomics, and touched on rather deep questions, with much ease, as if they were simply adding something to their Facebook profile.

They weren’t just Business or Economics students either. One student talked about the history of Cuba and Panama. I think everyone was curious to know his major. We asked, “Are you majoring in History?” He replied, “No, I’m Pre-Med.”

Regardless of their area of study, these young students showed diverse knowledge, that’s much broader than we often imagine. I think we have to work on stimulating this. I was extremely happy after the lecture. After all, Generation Y will be leading and representing us in the future.

As HR professionals, we left the lecture, wanting to “know more.” We wanted to be closer to them. The language we speak isn’t always the same. But being part of Generation X myself, you get the feeling that it would be extremely enriching for all of us, if we made an effort to get closer. Clearly, we’d be able to dig into more of the valuable knowledge they have to offer.

Bia Gabrielli is a director of Grupo Foco and Bianca Ferreira is a consultant of Grupo Foco

As technology evolves, art follows.

Sometimes art sprints in the same direction as technology.  Often, it purposefully lags behind, relishing in the comfort of brutal minimalism and raw simplicity.

Sophie Calle’s art exhibit “Prenez Soin de Vous” (“Take care of yourself”) blends art and technology, so naturally, that the two become completely indistinguishable.

I had to catch my breath a few times.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  I feel that Calle manages to truly pinpoint the moment in which we are living. This moment of “shared life,” in which most social interaction takes place in cyber space, as we coexist, slipping between our selves and machines.

Calle created an entire art exhibit based on the  “breakup e-mail,” (yes this is how some people breakup these days), she received from a man named Gregoire.

The exhibit consists of the rigorous and thorough analysis of Gregoire’s e-mail, by women from all sorts of professions, who seek to understand Gregoire, through their field of expertise.

The e-mail is analyzed by:  a psychotherapist, a cartoonist, an SMS transcriber, an eleven year old girl, a singer, a dancer, a headhunter, a mother, a lawyer, a stylist, an actress, an elementary school teacher, an editor, and basically any other profession you can imagine.   The analysis of these women is then transformed into art pieces.

I have to admit I was a bit depressed by the idea of a break up e-mail.  It made me think of that episode in “Sex and the City” in which Berger breaks up with Carrie on a “post-it.”  At least the “post-it,” is hand written, adding a touch of personal, which e-mail can never provide.

A break up e-mail feels like the last straw.  The tipping point…a clear sign that we’ve degenerated into a sort of cyber hell.

I also feel that this technique of breaking up over e-mail allows for an intense level of self-protection, which face-to-face interaction, never provides.

How much of our technology use (e-mail, texts, facebook, cell phone conversations, etc), is simply an attempt at self-protection?

Why have a painful conversation when you can just fire off a text or e-mail?  Why have to stare into the other’s hurt eyes, when you can just avoid “the look” altogether?  You literally don’t have to see the hurt.

Are we all becoming cowards like Gregoire?   Have these “machines” become our shields in love and in everyday life?

The exhibit presents us with an abundance of contradictions regarding technology.   The Internet gives us the impression of intense fluidity and malleability.  Yet, on the other hand, things are very much “permanent.”  Unlike in a conversation, it’s often impossible to “take things back.”

It’s much easier to “lose” (or burn) a hand written love letter (or breakup letter) than to destroy an e-mail forever.

Also, contrary to face-to-face interaction, which gets stuck in a moment, an e-mail is forever.  An e-mail can easily be re-read, relived, acted, sung, danced, interpreted, over and over and over, in an infinite number of ways, as proved by Calle’s exhibit.  Interestingly, this technology, which seems so wide open and free, can actually be extremely binding.

I was also intrigued by the fact that Calle’s analysis focused solely on the female gaze, and concentrated itself intensely along the lines of their professions.

Maybe in a world characterized by such cold anonymity, individuals cling to their professions more than ever, as a marker of identity and of self.

Also, perhaps there has never been such a clear example of the lack of privacy in today’s world.  Such a private e-mail has been diffused into the public sphere.  Its dissection by random strangers, who are nonetheless “outsiders,” when it comes to Gregoire and Sophie’s private affairs, lies there for everybody to see.

Calle blurs the lines between art and technology, the public and the private, one’s professional identity and personal identity, and between love and hate.  Yet one thing remains in constant focus:  it’s clear that technology is definitely on Calle’s side.