Is Gen Y Sleazy

Or just free from constraints?

Annie Goodstein complains that a young Joni Mitchell would not be pretty enough to be a pop star today. She points us, by comparison, to Avril Lavigne, almost topless and talking dirty in Blender.

Avril is looking good these days but she was just a skinny little kid when she made it big. So, I don't think Goodstein's right.

However, Annie might have a point. The sixties had the sexual revolution, mini-skirts and go-go dancers in cages but I don't think pop music and porn started to merge until the late 70s (eg Lee Aaron).

Now rap and girl group videos are far sexier than any strippers I've ever seen. And rap music is more foul-mouthed and meaner than any music I've ever heard.

So what does that say about Gen Y? Has the relaxation of censorship merely freed them to say and do what earlier generations merely felt. Or are they different?