DINKY is an acronym, short for dual (or double) income, no kids yet. DINKY is occasionally used (in the UK, India, and China) to describe a high-earning couple who choose not to have children and are therefore able to afford a more expensive consumer lifestyle than those with families. The term was coined during the 1980s, at the height of "yuppie" culture, but never gained as much currency as the latter term. A version of the acronym, DINK, is still used in the United States, especially for a subset of yuppies. DINK is sometimes used in reference to gay and lesbian couples who are stereotypically perceived to be childless. Some marketers have proposed yappie as a term to describe similar couples who do have children.[1] The dysgenic, dystopian film Idiocracy opens with a pair of DINKYs learning they are unable to bear children, while a lower class couple has many children. The film suggests that if the trend of DINKYs continue, intelligent professionals will become extinct due to lack of childbearing.
See also
References
- Chasin, A., Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market, New York: Palgrave, 2000.
- Fejes, F., “Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity”, in E. R. Meehan and E. Riordan (eds.), Sex & Money: Feminism and Political Economy in the Media, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
