“It’s not 1988 anymore”

“It’s not 1988 anymore” is a phrase Dexter Mayhew uses to challenge Emma Morley’s expectations and judgments by casting them as out of step with the present. Its meaning becomes clearest across two exchanges: first as a prediction that she will abandon a position, and later as a dismissal of her argument about women’s choices and feminism.

First Use and Forecast

When Emma asks what will happen if she misses a call, Dexter responds, “It’s not 1988 anymore, Em—” Emma begins to acknowledge the point, but he continues by predicting that she will cave within six months. The line turns a small disagreement into a forecast about Emma’s future conduct: its confidence makes the phrase sound less like a neutral observation about time than a way of telling her that resistance will not last.

The Feminist Dispute

The phrase returns during an argument about a woman displaying her breasts for tips. Emma insists that she is a feminist; Dexter first protests that he is one too, then says, “It’s not 1988, Em.” When Emma asks what he means, he explains that battles already lost should not be fought again and argues that feminism should focus on equal pay, equal opportunities, and civil rights rather than deciding what a woman may wear of her own free will.

Here the phrase acts as a compressed verdict: Dexter presents his position as modern and Emma’s concern as belated. The exchange complicates that confidence. He invokes women’s freedom to choose what to wear, while using the language of progress to rebuke Emma for questioning the conditions around that choice. Across its two uses, the expression moves from predicting that Emma will change her mind to asserting which arguments deserve to remain politically live.