X-From-Line: nobody Thu Apr 8 10:23:07 1999 Newsgroups: alt.polyamory Subject: Re: Cosmetics and goths (WAS Re: Up on the watershed) References: <7dbi57$l0a1@dagger.videotron.ab.ca> <87hfqzkmvc.fsf_-_@hedonism.demon.co.uk> <37065100.697AB7F3@darkwave.org.uk> <7eavkg$64$1@excalibur.gooroos.com> From: Paul Crowley Date: 08 Apr 1999 10:23:06 +0100 Message-ID: <87zp4j1n5x.fsf@hedonism.demon.co.uk> X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/XEmacs 20.4 - "Emerald" Lines: 35 Xref: hedonism.demon.co.uk misc-news:649 X-Gnus-Article-Number: 649 Thu Apr 8 10:23:07 1999 piranha@gooroos.com (piranha) writes: > it's a conformist thing. it always amuses me when non- > conformists become conformist by attracting enough of a > following that what used to be original dress and beha- > viour and interests becomes a badge of belonging to a > group. I think it's a little more complex than that. First, I get the impression that UK goths are less serious and more varied - there's a gathering of a thousand goths in Whitby every year, it's gone full-out for the cheezy, taking-the-piss themes like the Spice Girls (including popular pink "Spice Goth" T-shirts), and the person who suggested turning up in silver lame would fit right in. "Pink is the New Black"... Secondly, the fear and distrust that gatherings of goths sometimes display on seeing people with no outward signs of non-normality are to some extent a learned reaction: a decent proportion of such people who come up to you on the street, or visit the goth floor of the local club from the other floors, want to know: are you're a boy or a girl, are you gay, why do you make yourself look like that? Random strangers giving goths a hard time happens just often enough that we think "I must try harder to avoid confrontation next time around", and sometimes that ends up meaning "In future I'll avoid strangers who don't fit in". I'll confess straight away to being something of an identikit goth myself - I've never displayed great imagination in the clothing department and I rely on my Fashion Advisor to guide me. But some of the goths are *very* original and it would be hard to point at any common feature of the clothing at a big goth event that might be a badge of belonging toa group. -- __ \/ o\ paul@hedonism.demon.co.uk http://www.hedonism.demon.co.uk/paul/ \ / /\__/ Paul Crowley Upgrade your legacy NT machines to Linux /~\