As the millennial generation came of age in the 2010s, they were bombarded with media messages encouraging them to act like a gay man. “Dating,” “clubbing,” lavish holidays, “casual sex” and pathological narcissism all have one thing in common: your pocket gets picked.

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Nathan Smith is a former business journalist and columnist at the NBR. He also worked as the chief editor at the New Zealand Initiative policy think tank. He is now a freelance writer and copy editor.