Name us: Dinks, Elites, and Mushy Snow

DINKS, elites, and mushy snow

This is a call to action to we who are nameless. I’m referring to leading-edge Boomer women 50+ who are upscale/affluent, educated/smart, who while impacted by the economy, are still the most recession-resistant of the demographic segments, and who are defying the stereotypes of aging women by remaining engaged, vibrant and connected. This is the cohort that has led many of the significant societal revolutions over the course of our lives, from women’s liberation and entry into the workplace, to fueling the demand for everything from fast food to the green movement. We pioneered the notions of simplicity and life balance, and we played a leading role in social justice movements, alternative health care and both consciousness and spirituality movements.

And we need a name.

We need a name the way mushy snow needs a name.

The Eskimos have one. They call it “Shlim,” for slush. As differentiated from wet, saturated snow (“Musak”) and from “Quinaya,” which is snow mixed with Husky poo. These are but three of the hundred or so words Eskimos have for various types of snow. Lacking the terminology, we non-Eskimos wouldn’t know that such a thing as a “Krikaya,” snow mixed with breath, even exists.

The same is true of demographic segments. What were dual income couples with no kids before they were deemed “DINKS”? And what was a Mom who applied standards of high-achievement to her parenting duties until she received the moniker “Alpha Mom?”
The term “teenager” did not even exist, and neither did this slice of the pie as a discrete marketplace segment, until the Boomer generation hit 13. In the coming decades, we were hippies and we were yuppies–and every life stage on which we put our own special stamp subsequently came into existence in the public consciousness. Advertisers could sell their clients on going after the Yuppie market. The advertising fueled content and resources. The teen magazines were born. Television sitcoms featured DINKS, and so on and on.

Then sadly, the words that were awaiting us once we hit menopause were all mostly unpleasant or irrelevant: Senior, Crone, Elder, Empty Nester, Post-menopause, Old Woman, Mother-in-Law and so on. These are all terms that derive from previous visions of what it means to be an aging woman in our society, marginalized and invisible: mostly defined by what we’re not rather than what we are.

The only name that has stuck at all with our generation of women is “Boomers.” But first of all, few of us actually love the word, especially since it really stands for Baby Boomers, which hardly seems appropriate any more. And in any case, Boomers describes people from their early 40′s to early 60′s, male and female, encompassing all economic and educational levels of attainment.

There have been some other efforts that kind of get towards a name for us. AARP refers to Boomers who are truly affluent (working with a pre-tax annual household income of $150,000 or more) as “the Boomer Elite.” But this term includes men, and encompasses only a fraction (9%) of the Boomer population. Nevertheless, they account for 17% of intended spending, capturing the interest of marketers out of proportion to their population size.

Now, hone in on the fact that it is women who influence 80% of consumer purchases, and that 50+ is the heftiest of all the influencers, and you’ll just be starting to get at it. Then add in upscale to affluent, say at the 75k or so level, multiply by the triple inheritances many of us are in line to receive, and we start talking about serious impact. But we need a name!

And then there’s Dr. Paul Ray who has also made an effort that kind of gets towards a name for us. He coined the term “Cultural Creatives.” That would be leading-edge Boomers (50+) who spear-headed the momentous societal shifts I alluded to earlier. But Cultural Creatives also includes men (even though the arguably most singularly momentous contribution of our generation was the women’s movement)…and he is willing to apply the term to people of any generation who share the innovative attitudes we women 50+ pioneered.

So we still need a name, because just as we were the first generation of teenagers, we are once again something brand new that has never before existed. And lest we be confused with mushy snow, now is the time. Please, see if you can think of a name and share it with us here!