what is "Emo"

I've been asked this alot. "What is emo?"
SO, here i am, attempting to explain a genre, a style, and a way of life that died years ago.

many of the stereotypes that people have about the emo style is that you HAVE to be a cutter, that you have to be gay or bi or bi-curious, that your life isnt that bad and that you jsut want attention.

Cutting is not a must in the emo culture. many emo kids do it, but so do many others. i personally know "jocks" that do it, "Preps' that do it, and other goody goodies that do it. cutting is a sign of depression and often a cry for help. people do not often do it for attention as everybody seems to think we do. it is our way of expressing the feelings we cant write down or express normally. we cant write it with a pen so we write it with razors and blood.

being gay or bi is something that EVERY style has. there are VERY gay cowboys, athletes, stoners, alcoholics, drugees, whatevers. it is not just emo kids that have the gays and bis. piss off.

honestly very few people want to look emo, act emo, pr listen to emo music for fear of getting made fun of. the kids that do know the consequences that they will face in school and their social lives. when i started dressing emo and goth i lost a lot of friends just because they didnt want to be stuck with an emo in their social group, wich made school and other parts of my life totally suck. some people do it because they like the way it looks that is fine. but others do it to express themselves the way they want and to express again the way they feel inside. often emo kids are not born and raised in the suburbs in a loving home but instead have problems in their family or their amily ridicules them for being the way they are. so in all reality it does suck being part of the style but we do it anyways.

lastly, emo died in 2008 or so. whats left is scene, goth, visual kei, metal heads, and a very fucked up, warped, mainstream version of punk. most emo kids grew out of the style or just went into the goth or scene styles. emo. is. dead. why the hell should we beat the poor thing with a stick. most emo kids these days have no idea what started the style or what it even means. the kids who were straight a students a day ago could be failing their classes, cutting their wrists, smoking cigarettes, and bragging about how many times theyve tried to kill themselves a day later. there is no emo anymore, just kids who look the part.