In 2008, Darragh McManus of "The Guardian" states that grunge was not simply a young person's trend or a musical fad; she states that grunge synthesized the key philosophies of the modern era, from "Feminism, liberalism, irony, apathy, cynicism/idealism ... , anti-authoritarianism, wry post-modernism". McManus states that grunge dealt with serious, "weighty" topics, which does not occur often in popular music. McManus stated that for Generation X, grunge was not just music, it was a key cultural influence. Marlen Komar states that Nirvana's success popularized "non-heterosexist", non-binary ways of thinking about "gender and sexuality", emphasized how men and women were alike and promoted progressive political thinking.