Is 2010 socially closer to 2000 or 2020?

Yeah, we are living in the most accepting times in history.

Despite covid, definitely more like 2020. 2010 was already a progressive year, gay marriage/rights had a lot of momentum and Weed legalisation was picking up a lot of steam. Also, a lot of controversial 2010s social movements had their seeds planted in 2010 (MGTOW, Alt-Right...). Also, we had a black president.

Contrast that to the socially conservative year 2000 (which was still a lot more connected to the Reagan era than the new-right we have today). Homophobia was also still quite bad (no where near bad as the 80s atleast but, still bad).

I’m not sure the 1980s were as bad as it seems, even though there was homophobia it was probably more of a link to the fear of AIDS, misinformation and traditionalism. You could be straight and get away with light makeup, overly stylized and teased hair, tight clothing, feminine colors ( hot pink ) etc and since there were enough people looking like that in one way or another it wasn’t necessarily likely you would be mocked or even necessarily assumed to be gay.

I think this is true to a lesser extent in the 1970s.

This is a huge difference compared to other eras.

Also people skip this over but early to mid 2000s did bring more acceptance of girls dressing more revealing and among women, more acceptance bisexuality and to some extent lesbianism.

It's more like 2020 imo, even with COVID-19 in our mist. 2010 had the Tea Party movement (a precursor of the mid-late 2010s New Right), Facebook becoming the most popular social media site in the world, Obamacare being passed (which is still mostly in use today), more LGBT acceptance than 2000, and smartphones were on the rise (although not the majority mobile product yet).

I would agree that the 2000s were more socially progressive than people tend to give them credit for, however with that said, I also think you're over-exaggerating how progressive attitudes were at the start of the decade. In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on her sitcom and it sparked a huge amount of controversy, so much so that ABC placed a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode from that point on. Ratings quickly declined and the show was ultimately cancelled just one year later. 

The Netherlands legalising same-sex marriage way back in 2000 is a great outcome of course, but that doesn't necessarily reflect the social attitudes many Western people had towards gay people at that time. For the reaction to a celebrity coming out of the closet to have been that divisive a mere three years before the year 2000 itself, its fair to suggest that social attitudes among the general population wouldn't have changed too dramatically over the course of those three years. I really couldn't picture an incident like that happening in 2010 and especially not now in 2020. 

But on the otherhand you could be straight and likely barely worry for being called gay in the 80s when you dressed in tight clothing, pink shirts, or sprayed hair etc because there were enough people doing that and people weren't hung up about that or think it was connected to your orientation. It seems that the 2000s were quite the opposite.  Also that style was common among pop stars and everyday looks.

So while reagan influence may had a lasting effect to some extent, possibly influencing sexuality in general, I don't think it was that extreme. Also there was a period from 1992 to 2000ish where there was  a sort of neo-liberalism and openmindedness regarding sex and sexuality in general compared to the 80s and 00s. Casual sex, in general for anyone, may have been bigger then actually (its hard to compare without a study) movies like KIDS sort of hint at this this and a lot of movies from the mid 90s if you've noticed, there was a dark side to it with AIDS scare at the same time.

Even though awareness/rights weren't what they are today it seems.You also see more of an acceptance of androgynous looks in both men and women in this time and gender bending, for example men could get away with wearing make up,  a 12-17 year old straight male could wear black lipstick and nail polish to school and much more likely away with it which was much riskier in 00s.

Also lesbians and gays seemed like something people were more likely to just go along with. 2000s was bit less tolerant but still ok I would guess. I think stuff really changes when you go back to the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s.


Honestly I feel even before trump a lot of early to mid 2010s may have been more open minded on the surface, there seemed to be a monoculture when you really look at it where the 90s was the opposite. Modern 2010s hipster looks seem loosely connected to alpha male culture with the necessity of facial hair and short or uniform hair, I can't imagine what a group of hipster of 2013 who look alike would think of a male wearing black lipstick and swooshy 90s hair. Also women in the early 2010s seemed more prudish, even fashion wise, to some extent and also not everyone had the exact same same super progressive views at the time.