A Defence of The Teenage FEELS
When I found myself sitting in Battersea library surrounded by floppy haired 17 year olds googling such combinations as ‘yellow tag jackets’ and ‘young people's coats with yellow tag’ in futile attempts to identify what I now know were ‘Stone Island’ jackets, I couldn’t help but feel a back-in-my-day nostalgia. And this despite the fact that I am by definition, and most probably by example, very much still a teenager at 19. This distancing from the teenage approach happens all too often. Even when seasoned columnists tell us how we can learn from our endlessly confused 16 year old selves, the narrative is still that we can learn from them because all they do is make mistakes. But now more than ever, teenagers are the ones setting the agendas and it’s about time the establishment sat up and listened.
Greta Thunberg illustration by Anna Muir
When 1.4 million people (according to campaigners) in 100 countries across the world abandoned their algebra and deserted their DT to demand systematic change in addressing the impending climate emergency, the world watched on impressed that such little people could come out in such big numbers. Led by intimidatingly competent teenage organisers like 16 year old Greta Thunberg, who’s rousing rally that ‘no one is too small to make a difference’ reflects the acumen and eloquence of many of her peers. When she spoke government ears were pricked......but did they really listen?
UN secretary general António Guterres has set a strong example of recognising teenagers as a legitimate political force by stating the ‘need to harness their energy, invention and political power’. However, as is too often the case on the global stage the encouraging strides of the UN does not guarantee any substantial steps from nations themselves.
The establishment’s dismissal of the youth strikers - taken to extremes by Belgian minister Joke Schauvliege’s false accusations that the strike was ‘set up’ - is angering. The fact that governments around the world are not taking young people seriously about something as urgent and well-evidenced as climate change (Sir David Attenborough warns that “the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon”) reflects a systematic ignorance to the dangers of climate non-action. As well as being infuriating on a political level, a failure to recognise the validity of the teenage voice is part an age-old pattern of teenage feelings being viewed as quite funny and sweet and worthy of making 3 million 80’s films about, but ultimately not worthy of Adult Time.
Thus, this is my defence of the teenage FEELS. They might not need obvious defending because youth and rite of passage is clearly so often celebrated. What I’m talking about is the specific phenomenon of gasping teenage ‘It’s not a phase MOM!’ emotion, One Direction hyperventilation and all. It's the ugly side of teenage years that is not perpetually set to a Simple Minds soundtrack and acne-blurring filter. When we have traditionally looked at teenagers in a positive light it has been an acknowledgement of their coolness and passion as something that is ultimately fleeting and is best to leave in the tear stained sixth form common room, but it’s time they were taken seriously.
Adults shouldn’t just tune in to the adolescent voice because what they are saying regarding climate change is the clear voice of an urgent truth that they desperately need to hear. They should tune in because the teenage voice in all of its pitches is worth their time. Teenage passion is often incredibly funny. And we knew it too. When my fandom comrades and I gathered round a cracked screen to watch a 7 second black and white montage of Harry Styles declaring between gasps that ‘Life will never be the same after this’ and asking ‘WHO gave him permission to DO THIS to my ovaries’, we knew the ridiculousness of it. Still, every proclamation was absolutely true. If we dreamed hard enough that a member of The 1975 would stumble into the corner shop next to school in a Thursday lunchtime it would probably happen. If we hadn’t met Selena Gomez yet it was probably because we would meet some time in the future to become each other’s best friends and confidants. This is hilarious because it’s hyperbolic. And being hyperbolic is one of the most satisfying things a 16 year old, perhaps anyone, can do. Because beneath witty shrieks it shows how much someone really cares about something, and that should be acknowledged. Being shrieky and obsessive about band members we’ve never met is not what John Hughes made his films about, but it is what we spent a lot of our time doing, and while we can laugh with it (like our parents did) we should not ignore it.
This dismissal of such intense feeling about something so apparently frivolous is not the first time young people, particularly young women, have been denied their right to express themselves. The backwards Elizabethan diagnosis of ‘female hysteria’ for such symptoms as a ‘tendency to cause trouble for others’ has now been rightfully acknowledged as a product of the entrenched sexism of the time (particularly considering its roots in the Greek word ‘hysteria’ meaning womb and thus suggesting a disease of the womb). Although clearly distinct in context, there are clear parallels with this dismissal and the modern day dismissal of teenage passion in all its forms. Many adults are also all-encompassingly passionate about something, but even then it is sometimes met with a dismissal of silliness that only stifles creativity. To truly unleash the potential of teenagers we must acknowledge and revel in the hyperbole and messiness of teenage voices.
Teenagers are not, however, being hyperbolic about climate change. The way "The Youth Strike for Climate" unites teenagers has many similarities with a fandom. Making punny signs, gathering in huge groups to share in their passion and making online communities are all trademarks of a fandom. This is just what those who are protesting for systematic change to address the climate emergency are doing and this is no unflattering comparison.
If demanding action on climate change is the new fandom then this only strengthens the case for the worthy and clear adolescent voice. This, now more than ever, demands your attention.