Am I a Goth?

Am I goth? It is a question that many of us, from Baby Goths to Elder Goths ask. Goth is both a state of being and classification of personal style. Over the years, I’ve learned that fashion styles may come and go, but personal style, your “art of display” is everlasting, regardless of the shifting fads sweeping through. It’s your creative adaptation of the underlying sea of current trends that shows that you are both confident and caring about your gothic self.

Am I goth? It all starts with your imagination. The art of display is a creative expression that allows others to see the “real” you. And by expressing your uniqueness through your self-image, this enables you to attract like-minded people into your life. Individuality is the gothic subversion to the mainstream convention on how one must look. Therefore, I have found that most Goths are very accepting of the diversity of clothing styles and body types. Unlike mainstream culture, which emphasizes a youthfully thin figure for women or a muscular body type for men, Goth celebrates the beauty of the human form in all shapes, sizes and ages. This helps to debunk the disempowering belief that “my body is not sexy enough because…” which may come from the feelings of unworthiness perpetuated by mainstream media. Instead, gothic subculture enables you to express yourself attractively in its many variations.

Am I goth? As Gothic style rejects popular values, emphasis is on freedom of expression and challenging taboos. One of the most striking features of Goth is that both men and women may wear items that are typically relegated to women in modern culture such as fishnet, PVC, lace, velvet and even corsets and skirts. Menswear in mainstream culture and what is allowable to be worn in the workforce is limited to shirts, pants and suits, usually within conservative colors. Gothic attire enables men to accept of their feminine essence as all humans, whether male or female contain both the yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) energies within us.

Even though there are variations, there are definitive and unifying elements within Goth style – such as rejecting of popular values, emphasis is on freedom of expression, and challenging taboos such as black eye liner on men in Western culture, whereas lining the eyes with kohl was a practice in ancient Egypt and in oriental cultures for both men and women as the eyes are the windows of the soul.

Am I goth? Finally, this can only be answered ultimate by how you feel about being goth. I have found that goth is a state of mind that appreciates the darkness of life or the shadow self. This came about after realizing that I needed to know my inner darkness as much as my inner light to be goth. Goth is about facing our deepest fears since running away from them will only make them stronger. What you resist will persist. Light exists because darkness coexists. Eureka is the sudden clarity emerging from the depths of chaos and the midst of darkness.

The Origins of Gothic Fashion

The origins of the Gothic subculture, unfortunately cannot be explained in a simple statement. Not only do the origins stream from music, the lifestyle, and a certain sensibility. While many may not think of it, the word “Gothic” can be used in three separate ways. Firstly, it tends to describe a building such as a cathedral, that has a Gothic style of architecture that can be distinguished by the tall pillars, vaulted ceilings, and pointed arches. The Gothic term is also used to describe stories, which mysterious things tend to happen in dark places such as a castles ruins, or a style of printing used to write in print.

In the old world, the term Gothic was used from the Renaissance to signify the art styles of the middle ages. It was called this, after a German tribe of Goths who had once invaded Italy and shattered the roman empire. However, in the fifteenth century, man had hoped to revive the classic age, as the inkling of re-birthing the renaissance. This intervening period was called the middle age, which is still another means of a not so endearing form to refer to it. The Italians blamed the Goths for this destruction of the Roman empire, thus calling the art of this period Gothic.

While this in and of itself, didn’t spawn the Gothic subculture. However it did help to inspire the originality. However, the Gothic term was spawned out of negative connotations, and not quite as positive as this day and age. During the romantic movement, is when fashion became the key in the goth culture. In the eighteen hundreds, people romanticized the Gothic culture, creative a revival of Gothic, and medieval things within fashion.

Generally, the romantics as they were referred to, wanted to escape the concrete historical situation. They used several ways to achieve this, such using the dark, strange, and bizarre symbols and themes. Which were tinged with the resemblance of the Gothic artwork. Most of these trend followers, exhibited a sexual obsession, by allowing it to trickle down into romantic literature. Some of the books of this period, containing an important role of femme fatales, which took in several sinful agonies within delight.

These darker novels have helped to spawn the unweilding fascination with the undead. Most of the literature existing of a complex mix of terror, horror, mysteries, and eroticism. The typical characters, not only being femme fatales, but vampires, and were beasts as well. Some examples of this work, would be Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker. Stoker, however did have a rather vague picture of the vampire, which emerged from the nineteenth century literature, and earlier, of who’s vampiric lifestyle assumed a mythic status in pop culture. This of course, has helped to inspire not only modern day vampiric tales, but the fashion of the Gothic subculture.

Gothic Dating 101

Goths
Goth is a subculture that has been popular in many countries for over two decades (and many people would say much longer). Some believe that the goth scene originated in the early 1980s in the United Kingdom, as a result of musical groups such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure and Bauhaus. Goths occupy a tight-knit community, and you will often find Goths dating fellow goths.

Benefits
One great way to meet fellow goths to date is perhaps by going to Gothic gig or nightclubs. Even if there isn’t an exclusively goth nightclub in your area, it’s highly likely that some of the clubs in your area will host a weekly goth night. If you are in high school or college, you might be able to come across other goths at school for dating, but it will be a lot easier to find dating partners if you have more people to choose from. Another good place to meet goths for dating is at gothic fashion stores such as Hot Topic.

Considerations
Use an online service. The Internet offers many free dating services with listings of goths all over the world, country and of course, in your area. A great examples of gothic dating websites is Goth Scene. Of course, you can also meet goth individuals on other, more broad social networking websites such as MySpaceand Facebook.

Effects
Goths tend to bond over many shared interests, such as style and fashion, social beliefs, political issues, movies, television and of course, most importantly, music. Many people (but not all) who join the gothic subculture tend to bond over feelings such as alienation, loneliness and isolation in society. So for those reasons alone, it might be a good idea to find a fellow goth to date. After all, it’s not as likely that a goth is going to have a lot in common with a football jock or someone equally different.

Expert Insight
A great way to bond with your goth significant other is by perhaps writing him or her gothic poetry, exchanging artwork, sharing books and taste in music and going out to a gothic club dancing are all fun ideas. Exchanging makeup products (pale foundation and dark eyeliner) or do each others make-up for a laugh!

Warning
It is also important to remember never to generalize. Goths are people just like everyone else. Not all goths are going to act the same way. Not all goths are necessarily going to like dark indie rock like Bauhaus and the Cure. Not all goths are going to like sad poetry and Anne Rice novels. If you want to snag your ideal goth special someone, just be yourself, act naturally and it should all fall into place. Good luck.