The term ‘millennial’ is broad and vague. It brings to mind overly social, tech-hungry and self-absorbed individuals. As defined by the Pew Research Center, millennials would be “those born after 1980 and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.” We highly value certain things that have never previously been valued in the workplace, like balance, friendships and equality.
And yes, we curse excessively. A recent study conducted by work management platform Wrike, and analyzed by Bloomberg, found that approximately “three-quarters of female millennial managers and executives admitted to swearing at work.” The same study reported that Gen X and Baby Boomers “are more likely to feel the taboo against bad language,” with 45 percent saying swearing in the workplace “is too casual and feels unprofessional.”
Millennials are often perceived as being more out-of-touch and immature than their counterparts, particularly in professional settings. It’s assumed that we only look for the Buzzfeed-like workplace, with couches and candy and zero cubicles. Millennials are the new and shiny toy of the professional world. Yet, our social media consumption and cursing habits do not negate our professionalism.
Traditionally taboo language now surrounds us from a young age. We came of age in a time when YouTube videos wracked with swear words and movies with cursing characters are all around. It is actually far more difficult to insulate oneself from the culture of swearing than it is to embrace it. Generation X, our predecessors, did not grow up with digital exposure to such wealths of information, good and bad. Generation Z, those who follow us, with most likely curse even more than us because of their greater exposure.
In an age where most 5-year-olds have an iPad, our eyes see far more than any previous generation. That being said, this is not always a bad thing.
As this weekend in politics reminded us, our generational acceptance of certain language has changed drastically from those before us. A live microphone video, filmed in 2005, caught Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump degrading and objectifying women. He was quoted with saying things like, “I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” and, “she’s not got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.” Trump wrote the comments off as “locker room talk” in Sunday’s debate.
The Washington Post obtained the video and then disseminated an unedited version, careful not to edit out curses or vulgar words. By doing so, it showed the most legitimate representation of what was actually said. The Post was justified, in this instance, to publish the unedited version. Several decades ago, this wouldn’t have been considered. The fact that the Post published an uncensored version proves the point of why millennials curse more than their predecessors; in the face of inequality or microaggressions, swear words just don’t really matter. The content is more important.
Generationally, we are highly sensitive to degradations related to race, gender or sexual orientation, but saying “shit” in a workplace simply isn’t as big of a deal. Cursing is far different from degrading, as Trump proved all too well in the leaked video. This was not the case in the past, particularly amongst females in the workplace. Shows like “Mad Men” remind us of the inequality that women faced and the demeaned value they held as employees. Certainly, there was less swearing, but there was also far less equality in the speech used around the office.
Respect, equality and balance between all employees in a professional setting take a much higher priority than a swear word or two. As the Bloomberg article put it, “it does sound more exciting when you tell a coworker you really effing like her weekly conference call.”
Millennials are more open to collaboration, casual interactions and encouragement. Therefore, we are more comfortable with casual interactions, which are far more conducive to harsh language. Yes, we swear as a generation, but we are also more inclusive than any previous generation.
