Generation Snowflake

Generation Snowflake, or Snowflake Generation, is a term used to characterise youth who became adults in the 2010s as being more prone to taking offence and less resilient than previous generations, or too emotionally vulnerable to cope with views that challenge their own. It is considered derogatory.

"Generation Snowflake" may be derived from the term "snowflake", which has been used in referring to raising children in ways that give them . This usage of "snowflake" may originate from Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel Fight Club, and its 1999 film adaptation. Both the novel and the film include the line "You are not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake." In January 2017, Palahniuk claimed credit for coining this usage of "snowflake", adding "Every generation gets offended by different things but my friends who teach in high school tell me that their students are very easily offended".

The term "Generation Snowflake", or its variant "Snowflake Generation" is thought to have originated in the United States. It came into wider use in the United Kingdom in 2016, particularly after Claire Fox, founder of the think tank the Institute of Ideas, published a book called I Find That Offensive! In it she wrote about a confrontation between Yale University students and faculty Head of College, Nicholas Christakis. The confrontation arose after Christakis' wife, Erika Christakis, a lecturer at the university, had suggested students should "relax a bit rather than labeling fancy dress Halloween costumes as culturally insensitive", according to Fox. Fox described the video showing the students' reaction as a "screaming, almost hysterical mob of students". Fox said the backlash to the viral video led to the disparaging moniker "generation snowflake" for the students.

The term "snowflake generation" was one of Collins Dictionary's 2016 words of the year.Collins defines the term as "the young adults of the 2010s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generations". Similarly, in 2016 the Financial Times included "snowflake" in their annual Year in a Word list, defining it as "A derogatory term for someone deemed too emotionally vulnerable to cope with views that challenge their own, particularly in universities and other forums once known for robust debate" and noting that the insult had been aimed at an entire generation.

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