Looking Goth

Okay, so there are probably some Goths somewhere that have been told that they don't look Goth because they don't have pale skin, black hair, black eyes, black clothes, a black heart, black blood, a black brain, a black kidney, a black soul . . . . Or maybe I'm alone in this. Somehow, though, I doubt that. No, really, I do.

Back when I was still going to SPHS (which was just last year--as in 2011, not the eighth grade), I sat in the very back in my English 1 class, next to another boy. He and I had gotten along okay for the past few days, but people had finally started to notice that I wore at least two things that were black every day. This boy heard some certain rumors, but he wanted to ask me personally, I suppose.

"Are you Goth?"

"Yeah."

"You don't look Goth. Do the other Goths call you 'Goth'?"

"Some probably wouldn't, but I think most would."

"So you cut yourself a lot?"

"No, emos are more prone to do that, actually." (NOTE:  I am not saying that Goths can't.)

"I didn't know there was a difference."

Well, that was the conversation, basically. We talked a few times after that (I know, I wasn't accused of murdering a toddler! *GASP*), but he never asked what Goth was, and I never really bothered to explain it to him. I didn't think that there was too much that I would be able to do that would convince him otherwise that I am a Goth, even though I don't cut myself and have black hair.

There was another instance where a kind girl in the twelfth grade told me that she was pretty darn sure that if I was really a Goth, I would wear nothing but black, have black hair--well, have the list that I made in the first paragraph of this post. I did try to explain it to her, but she just nodded in that way when you know people aren't really listening to what you have to say. I gave up on trying to convince her and left her believing that I was a wannabe.

Now. I'm sure that really everyone has been told that they're not a Goth for some reason or another, but at this time, I'm focusing on the reason being because we don't look it, not because we're not depressed and don't write horrible poetry and practice self-harm. Sometime or another, though, I probably will get to the other side of being told that we Goths aren't really Goths.

If I had to guess, I think that the Ice Goths would probably be the most recognizable targets for these types of accusations, and then maybe Ghost Goths, then Casual Goths, and then Perky Goths (please keep in mind that there is a vast number of "types" of Goths, many of which are different from the next and I don't know all of them). The Ice and Ghost Goths wear a lot of white, we Casual Goths wear simple clothing, and Perky Goths wear a lot of pink and purple. I don't think there's much wrong with any of that, but . . . .

There are people in the world who don't agree with me (*cough*logic*cough*), both in and out of our lovely subculture. If I had to guess--and it's hard for me to say anything about this with confidence, because Perseus and I are the only Goths in this part of Mississippi that I know of--I would say that you're more likely to be told that you're not Goth by someone who has no idea what in the world Goth really is, rather than be told the same thing by a black-clad forty-year-old elitist (like I said, I'm not saying that it doesn't happen). So when the redneck in Wal-Mart tells you that you aren't a Goth because you're not crying, maybe you should just ignore him.

Or, better yet, tell him to leave you alone in a very threatening way.

On the other hand, if you're being told that you're not a "real Goth" by someone who was in the first generation, then it might hurt your pride a bit. You could choose to ignore them, or you could try to explain to them that you love Bauhaus and The Sisters of Mercy and all of those olden bands--your call. It might not be a wonderful idea to name any of the newest bands, since a lot of older Goths are moaning that the scene is dead.

I, for one, am not about to go out and buy corsets and stockings just because I have been told that I don't look Goth, and I hope that anyone who is reading this doesn't do it just because someone told them that they don't look Goth. If you're doing it for that . . . maybe this subculture isn't for you.