How do you judge a person to be goth or not?

[jennifer4232]

I am on the edge of being mad!! Recently Ive been on a goth dating site and you know what? The freaks there said I AM FAR FROM BEING A GOTH!

I AM GOTH! And who has the right to doubt me?

Say, just like the title. How do you judge?

[Desdemona]

I am on the edge of being mad!! Recently Ive been on a goth dating site and you know what? The freaks there said I AM FAR FROM BEING A GOTH!

I AM GOTH! And who has the right to doubt me?

Say, just like the title. How do you judge?

Without knowing the specifics of what they said, I think it really depends on who is defining what a Goth is. Some people think that being a Goth is all about the dress and makeup. But I think that there is also an internal component of being a Goth. Not everyone can go around with black lipstick, corsets, black fingernails, etc. Some people have jobs! But I think you can also be a Goth by your mindset, your musical tastes, your personality, your reading interests, etc.

[paigenumber]

If you think you are Goth and are interested in Goth, you are Goth, no matter what anyone else says. Perhaps these other people are a subset of Goth that does not include you, and maybe you should find someone closer to your own interests.

[Epigraph]

I don't like labels, but i fit into either goth, or emo, though not to the extreme of the word. I like to think of myself as a 'dark romantic'. I judge people by their speech, their thoughts. If you saw me on the streets, you'd think i was the most normal girl in the world, yet once you hear me speak my mind on matters, you can immediately tell i fit into the 'goth' label. I don't think it has to do with the way you dress or do your make up. It's the way you act, you think, you talk. Some people dress up like 'goths' merely because they like the fashion.

[vampyrouss]

Hi, this is my first post, and its quite long... but bare with it, I think there is a point or opinion in there somewhere! lol...

In the modern day "Goth" sadly is a fashion statement. It's being phased out now into emo I guess, which has to be a good thing for the gothic art forms!

Back in the early 2000's (when I was an impressionable teen) everyone "alternative" was a "goth", when in reality they were listening to American metal bands like Slipknot *vomits* and shock poppers like Marilyn Manson AKA that dollar grabbing chameleon on stilts... and wearing slightly occult or pagan "satanic imagery"... lol... like a pentagram, or an ankh. How misinformed and ignorant we were!! It was cool to be blasphemous to Christians by listening to "Antichrist Superstar", but it was probably more offensive to pagans that we were all wearing their religious iconography whilst "hating the world" *rolls eyes...*

But these disenfranchised kids have always been around, either as hippies (seen as decadent, experimental and sometimes occult because of their sexual openness in the eyes of their peers) punks (anti... everything pretty much, lol... an overly publicized but not particularly productive movement of the time to be honest!) or new romantics (again seen as decadent and sexually driven, thus dangerous to society in the 80's...) then grunge kids (seen as self destructive bums) or goths and now emos, both of which are seen as the new cult youth terror driving all our children to commit suicide etc...

We all know this is all mostly harmless. Some people overdosed on LSD in the 70's, some punks needed stitches on a weekly basis and SOME new romantics may have contracted STI's (just like anyone else at the time, regardless of their musical preference!) and some depressed teenagers have done some very stupid (and atrocious) things in recent years, and they may have listened to dark music... but it's all media hype.

People will always label themselves as something to stand out from the crowd, even if nowadays the crowd is mostly alternative people of some variety, so the middle class man in a business suit is often the minority!

I've always seen gothic as a way of depicting something that has a dark and repressed sensuality, whether it's sexual or spiritual or being in touch with the hidden self. It's about introspect I suppose and unleashing that repressed desire to be unashamed of the self in all its magnificence and grotesqueness.

It could be writing or reading an excellent darkly smoldering gothic romance piece that evokes that repression of the self that we face every day in a fictional escapism, or a more politically scathing satire or morbid twist on the world we live in, as with the old post punk goth rock bands, or indeed an expression of alternative beliefs as with other important (mostly pagan) goth rock bands.

Goth is a contradiction. It's 100% NOT about the image. But it is 100% about AN image. A true image of the self, of the good and bad, beautiful and ugly, mysterious and drab. Simply it is, or should be an expression of that in a creative form.

But thats just my opinion!

[Desdemona]

Anyone out there get Gothic Beauty magazine? I love it.

[Bellatrix]

Imo it's not good to be overly concerned with others' opinions. Someone will always disapprove. If you believe you are "Goth enough," that's all that matters. Perhaps your critics are "Gothicker than thou." If so, it's their trouble. Maybe you are more independent and genuinely self-expressive, and it's threatening to them for whatever reason. Basically it seems they're trying to get you to conform to certain criteria/standards. If so, they're insecure and best ignored.

As for me, I do like Gothic (obviously). But it fits only a portion of my personality. And I'm okay with that.

[Monique Devereaux]

I agree Goth is a state of mind. I rarely dress "Goth" but considering my taste in movies, music, and reading I know, in my black little heart, that I am Goth.

I occasionally go to the Goth Night at a local dance club in my city. I have only dressed Goth once, I usually wear a black T shirt, and usually meet some other lonely, introverted people to talk to...after all, we DO have the same tastes in Art and Music!

[duvessa666]

i hate labeling people but everybody does it so here it is if u feel Goth u are Goth but some peopel don't see u as goth cose u dress normally and u don't have your hole body pirced yet(nothing wrong with piercings i have few my self but i like to overreact) i mean i am goth i know i also dress goth but mostly in the weekend cose during the week i work, we have quite a relax dress code at work but i can't go there with my black lipstick spike necklace and the hole outfit it dopsen't look good, so if people want to label me about it then they can say what they want i want to keep my job though, and i know that deep down i am goth and people close to me know it as well

[romanticdress]

Goth = wild hair, pale face, piercings, clothes with PVC or torn fabric.
Gothic = historical sets, Gorgeous Period Dress, 19th century London of mist and gaslights...