Por Mariana Coimbra*

After reading Eline’s posts on the miniskirt,  I decided to write about my perspective on this whole situation.

As a loud and proud member of Generation Y, and a person who questions things, I think that I can talk a bit about this episode. Though the reactions have been exaggerated and blown out of proportion, we must recognize that the other students felt disrespected. I’m not going to get into the debate on whether the reactions Geisy received were disrespectful. But I believe that the sentence, “Respect yourself, to be respected,” applies here.

Unlike most people, I believe that values are immutable. Values are universal concepts, and their truth remains constant and intact throughout generations. Purposely hurting someone’s feelings and disrespecting other people, will always be synonymous for the absence of values.

Generation Y is constantly analyzed, studied, criticized, molded, and labeled. All the time. As if we are an immutable generation. Yet, we must take into account, that the oldest members, born in 1980 are at least 29 years old today. We are no longer spoiled children who got trophies and played around in shopping malls. Today, we are growing up. This process is slow, perhaps a bit overdue, and difficult. Yet it’s easy to see that often the values are there and intact.

We are capable of understanding how many things work, and most of us have values. It’s not rare to find someone for Generation Y citing some lesson that they learned from their parents or grandparents. They have values.

The Uniban revolt doesn’t have anything to do with the micro-skirt Geisy wore. It does have to do with the image and reputation of our generation. We have values, and we are conscious that Geisy’s act was simply a confrontation towards her University. Freedom does have limits. As my mother says, “One’s freedom stops when it starts to impede on another’s rights.” Adapting this to the case of Uniban: The freedom a student to use an indecent article of clothing stops with the right of thousands of other students having their image preserved.

I can choose whether I want to go to certain clubs where women with short enough skirts don’t pay the cover. I know that at the moment that I enter that club, my image will be compromised. Of course, this doesn’t apply to a University setting where all individuals should be respected. For me, respect is the act of considering other people, and putting yourself in their shoes.

In the same way that students from Estácio de Sá, don’t want to be labeled for the incident in 2001, when an illiterate student actually passed the vestibular (the exam required to enter Brazilian University,) the students of Uniban don’t want to be seen as people without principles, and don’t want to be labeled. They want to preserve their image. Not respecting the institution where you study, by using inappropriate clothing, is a lack of values. It’s irresponsible towards thousands of other Uniban students. I mean, think of the consequences if the first lady, accompanied President Lula dressed in Geisy’s miniskirt?

Let’s not be demagogues to the point where we actually believe that image doesn’t count. The example of the Estacio is living proof. Students still suffer prejudice from that incident today. In regards to Uniban, in the Folha article, one girls actually said, upon seeing the outfit, “Oh god, it can only only be a girl from Uniban!”

In conclusion, is it Geisy’s right to use that sort of clothing, exposing her body in this way? Is her personal freedom larger than the right of all of Generation Y, to show that they have values? The question remains…

*Mariana Coimbra was born in Belo Horizonte (MG), spent her childhood in Ouro Branco (MG) and her teenage years in Palmas (TO). She is currently living in em Recife (PE), but also has a small house in New York City (her mother lives there). She has already been a bartender, a store attendant, a Christmas tree decorator, a snowboard apprentice, and has also tried to be an athlete. She has been a babysitter, a bakery employee and an intern. She is a Gen Yer, wants to be a future trainee and is a persistent, adaptable and flexible person. She is also the superintendent of her building, currently having to be a housekeeper, a blogger and, at the same time, a Law student and her mother´s little princess. She dreams of being knowledgeable about everything someday, even though she knows it´s impossible. She prefers to dream big and for her there is only one thing better than learning: to share what she has learned! Follow Mariana on her blogs: http://porquenaopassei.blogspot.com and http://pontodotrainee.blogspot.com or on Twitter.

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…