Goth culture explained

This is probably the hardest question    
any goth could try and answer, one may    
as well ask 'what is society?' as it    
has so many facets it defies any    
definitive explanation.  
   
Goth in its simplest form, is a subculture.    
A group of people who feel comfortable within    
each others company. There is no specific thing    
that defines what you need to do or be to fit into    
the goth scene (except of course the implied black    
clothing). People in the goth scene all have different    
musical tastes, follow different religions, have    
different occupations, hobbies, and fashion sense.  
   
Why do people become goths?  
   
Most goths become goths because they    
have been spurned by 'normal' society    
because the way they want to live their    
lives does not fit in with how most people    
are told to live theirs. Goths are free thinkers,    
people who do not accept the moral rules of society    
because they're told 'This is just how it is' or 'This    
is what God says!'. Rather goths tend to listen to what    
you have to say, and make up their own mind. This kind    
of free thinking and rejection of dogma earns only    
rejection in todays society.  
   
However because of this rejection from 'normal'    
society, goths have banded together to associate    
with other free thinkers. This has a beneficial    
effect on both the individual and society as a    
whole. For the individual they have a sense of    
belonging, and friends they can associate with.    
For society it removes one more misfit filled    
with rage from society's streets.  
   
This of course is not the case for all Goths.    
Many goths today are goths for a variety of    
other reasons. They like the music, or the    
clubs are better, they have goth friends and    
joined in with them, or they just like staying    
up late nights and goths are the only ones awake    
to talk to.  
   
The gothic stereotype  
   
Many stereotypes of goths exist    
these days. It seems everyone has    
their own way to define 'what is    
goth'. From the stereotypes based    
on clothing to music right up to    
the stereotypes of all goths being    
Satanists or part of some kind of cult.    
Categorically, all of these are false.  
   
The goth scene is just as widely varied    
as society in general. There are many    
different professions represented in the    
scene, from highly skilled professionals    
like doctors and lawyers, to tradesman,    
to technically minded people to clerical    
workers. Many different musical tastes exist    
(and not all of them goth, there is a HUGE 80's    
following in the goth scene for some reason).    
The fashion varies vastly from goth to Goth    
from the traditional flowing victorian style    
garments to the buckled and studded style    
regalia (also called industrial style, which    
is often closely related with goths, and have    
come to an understanding of co-existance, if    
uneasily at times).  
   
How do I get into goth?  
   
This is the simplest part of the page. Go    
check out our Community section over on the    
left, and use it to find out whats going on    
in your local area. Goths tend to be accepting    
and open minded. Just turn up to a club or event    
wearing all black and your already in the goth scene.    
You'll pick it up as you go along (just a hint though,    
lay off the vampire comments!).  
   
The gothic sense of humour is highly developed, and    
often leans toward the satirical. Quietly laughing    
at the more idiotic and less tolerant factions of    
society that seem to think yelling out of cars at    
us makes them cooler. Goths have learned to laugh    
at themselves and see society in a much different    
light. They have had to, and it is a trait most    
would not give up.  
   
Goths have for the most part (not unanimously of course,    
but mostly) dropped all forms of prejudice. Noone is afraid    
within the goth scene to come out as being gay, and no one    
has to hide their religion for fear of scorn from their    
peers or zealots wanting to convert them from the arms of    
Satan. In fact because of these facts (and the general    
lack of prejudice) the goth scene has a large proportion    
of gays/bisexuals, and followers of non-mainstream religions    
and views. This of course is the most important aspect of gothdom,    
and why most goths became goths in the first place,    
tolerance.  
   
But they think weird!  
   
Ah, but this is the beauty of goths. Most subjects that are    
taboo in 'normal' society are freely discussed and debated  
 about. Death, religion, magick, mysticism, and many other    
topics that are only roached carefully outside of the
gothic community. Most goths have realised that fear is
only a    
reaction instilled in us by dogmatic propaganda, and once    
you realise there is nothing to fear from the topic, what's    
to stop you discussing it?  
   
Goths often revel in the fear given to them by    
society as a whole. Often the behavior exhibited    
by society to them based    
on society's perception of them from stereotypes,    
rumour, etc are a constant source of entertainment.    
Of course, most of the rumours are totally unfounded,    
goths are people like everyone else, however when you    
already have a reputation, going for the shock factor    
is often far too tempting to see how much society at    
large is willing to believe (or deduce) with only a    
little encouragement.  
   
This does not totally fall away once you get inside    
the scene unfortunately, and goths are all too often    
tempted to try for the shock factor within the scene    
(which turns out more tacky than shocking). Goths when    
you get down to it can be a rather pretentious bunch,    
trying for those extra 'goth points' on the gothier t  
han thou scale, but it adds to the enjoyment.  
   
History of Goth  
   
Modern goth (ignoring where the name itself originally    
comes from) started in the early 80's as part of the    
punk subculture (which is itself was a rejection of    
most societal values, and anything considered part    
of the 'norm'). The phrase was coined by the band    
manager    
of Joy Division, Anthony H. Wilson, who described the    
band as 'Gothic compared with the pop mainstream'. The    
term stuck, and as punk eventually died, Goth survived    
and became its own subculture. The punk clothing and    
hairstyles mellowed, and the core 'rejection of society'    
attitude alone lived on in the gothic subculture. Over    
time this itself has been modified to be more of a 'no    
more blind acceptance of society's values' as opposed to    
rejection because it was there to be rejected (and because    
you could get away with it!).  
   
Movies such as The Crow, and bands such as the Bauhaus    
helped establish the gothic image as dark, depressing,    
and even evil. As more and more 'dark' movies came out,    
numbers in the gothic subculture expanded, and there is    
now a gothic community in almost every major city around    
the world, and quite a number of towns have their own  
 representative contingent. Nowdays there are more Goth    
bands around than ever, and it has turned from an 80's    
phenomenon into a 90's way of life for many people. Unlike    
the punk subculture that it spawned from, there even exists    
a class of mature goths, still following the scene around    
even past their 20's and into their 30's and beyond.