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Tell Us The "Normal" 2000s Behaviors That Would Be Totally Inappropriate Today The 2000s were a time of low-rise jeans, flip phones, and a pop culture landscape that somehow managed to be both iconic and deeply problematic. The 2000s were a time of low-rise jeans, flip phones, and a pop culture landscape that somehow managed to be both iconic and deeply problematic. What passed as "normal" back then often makes us cringe now, and it's wild to look back and realize just how much things have changed. From reality TV's obsession with makeovers and "revenge bodies" to the casual use of slurs on primetime sitcoms, a lot of what we grew up watching and doing hasn't aged well. It's not just the fashion that makes us wince — it's the attitudes, the jokes, and the "harmless fun" that, in hindsight, was anything but. So we want to know: What's something that felt totally normal in the 2000s but would be considered wildly inappropriate today? Maybe you remember watching makeover shows where women were publicly ridiculed for their appearance before being "fixed" by a glam team, and everyone laughed along like it was empowering. Maybe you think about how often gay or trans people were the punchlines of jokes on popular TV shows, and how we were all taught to see that as "harmless humor." Maybe you remember entire school assemblies dedicated to abstinence-only education that shamed girls for being "temptations" while never addressing consent or equality. Or maybe you remember the way magazines pitted women against each other — running side-by-side photos of female celebrities with captions like "Who wore it better?" or "Beach body or bad angle?" — as if policing women's bodies was just part of pop culture. The 2000s were full of moments that shaped an entire generation, for better and for worse. Looking back now, it's clear that some of what we considered "normal" reflected a much deeper set of cultural issues we were only beginning to question. So tell us: What's one 2000s behavior, trend, or cultural norm that seemed fine back then but feels completely unacceptable now? Share your story in the comments below, or if you'd prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form at the bottom of this post. Your response could be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community story. We've come a long way, but it's always worth remembering how far we've actually come.
