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Goth is ugly - in more ways than one

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Wide White: Goth is ugly - in more ways than one

Monday, April 17, 2006

Goth is ugly - in more ways than one

I have a friend who went from being a punk goth Kerry supporter to being a "normal" (jeans/polo/no black hair and makeup - my general sense of normalcy) Bush supporter. His reason? "I quit listening to bands and started looking at the issues."

In any event, I don't suppose this tells us anything we didn't know. That doesn't make it any less sad.
"Goth" youths more likely to self-harm: study

LONDON (Reuters) - Young people who adopt the "Goth" lifestyle of dark clothes and introspective music are more likely to commit self-harm or attempt suicide than other youngsters, according to a study on Friday.

"Although only fairly small numbers of young people identify themselves as belonging to the Goth subculture, rates of self-harm and attempted suicide are very high among this group," said Robert Young, lead researcher of the Glasgow University study.

The Scottish team described Goths as being a subgenre of Punk "with a dark and sinister aesthetic, with aficionados conspicuous by their range of distinctive clothing and makeup and tastes in music."

Shock rockers such as Marilyn Manson are said to be popular amongst Goths and the subculture has often attracted suspicion and criticism from the media.

Two U.S. students who massacred 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 were said to have been fascinated by the Goth image.
...
Although other subcultures were associated with self harm, such as Punk, the link was strongest with Goths.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that 53 percent of those who were linked to the Goth subculture reported self-harm and 47 percent had attempted suicide.

Even adjusting for other factors, such as alcohol abuse and previous depression, Goth identification was the strongest predictor of self harm or suicide attempts, the report said.
Sad.

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8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous declared,

From my interactions with former "goths" and current "gothers" - I 100% agree.

Interesting that the music was called "introspective". I think anytime that a person has too much focus on one's self - that it can be more than one can handle.

In any society where there are groups of people that are interested more in themselves, then looking to others at how they can be of help or assistance - selfishness abounds. Goth, punk, or otherwise.

Interesting.

4/18/2006 1:17 PM  
Blogger Keithslady declared,

If you want an inside view of the goth world read, "She Said Yes: The unlikely martyrdom of Cassie Bernall" about a victim of the Columbine massacres who was actually attending Columbine after her parent moved to get her away from the goth culture she'd been involved in at her previous school. The book is by her mother and includes excerpts from Cassie's diary about the devastating emotions tied with her goth lifestyle. The good news, she was delivered from the death culture and became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. When she said "yes" she chose life over death, and was killed for it.

4/19/2006 10:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous declared,

I am a goth myself and was suicidal BEFORE I became one. I love black and deep colours and listen to music with dark lyrics. When I started dressing this way I was accepted into a subculture that contains some of the deepest and most accepting people I have ever encountered. My goth friends did not delight in my misery, they pulled me out of depression and made me realise I was a worthwhile person. We laugh together and watch both horrer movies and crazy comedies together, we don't EVER try to make someone suicidal and if someone is we try to help them see the light at the end of the tunnel.
'Normal' people however call us names, bash us up and spit on us, my friend was even raped because the rapists thought she was so sick that she would enjoy it. When faced with such negative reactions from the general public is it any wonder that many goths are sad and feel alone? We are treated worse than paedophiles or murderers by close-minded people. I ask you, who are the people that need help, the goths or those discriminate individuals that drive us to suicide...and then say it was our choice?

4/01/2008 4:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous declared,

I dont agree with some things, yes some emo/goth people do self inflict themselves, but so do normal depressed people and they also commit suicide, and Im wondering since when did goths or emo's become considered not "normal" people? who's to say who is normal?
And about the two kids who killed 13 people, what does that have anything to do with them liking the goth "image" so? There are serveral people that like the goth/emo image m as myself but I dont go and murder people at school, some people have mental disordered or are just sick, but to slaughter 13 people you would just have to be sick, and some people do dress up in goth just as transvestites, some people dont know but people who used to do that were treated for it because it was considered a type of mental illness because a "sane" person wouldnt do that right? People who usually feel out of place fell like nobody understands them, music is a way of expressing yourself, just as the way you dress, thats why people dress goth or any other way, like womens clothes either way your expressing yourself, read up but a lot of homosexuals commited suicide because they werent accepted til these recent generations, maybe someday goth/emo will also be accpted as "normal" and not labled then we might see less suicide or self infliction.

btw I am not supporting being gay or goth its just dumb to say just because you like punk rock or dark colors your gonna commit suicide or want to inflict yourself or others.

5/24/2008 6:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous declared,

it is retarted to compare those losers from columbine to other goths i'm a huge gothic freak and if i had seen them i'd have let them know exactly what i thought of them and saying they did it because they were amongst the goth crowd is slow there are alot more school shootings by the thugish gangsta wanna be crowd then any other gothic communities scare you as you put normal people but if there is beef between a goth and someone else most of my kind are to liad back and would be like your not worth my time so get out of my face however personal experionce shows that preps,thugs,geeks ect.... will go jump people or shoot or stab i know that goths have done it as well but it simply tells you odn't matter if your goth,emo,prep,thug were all humans and all the hatred in between is stupid and all that talk about goths think to much about themselves is horse crap lots of people do that and there not all goth i simply think you have something personal against my kind i've helped lots of people an easy example is about three months ago a car flipped i heard it from my house it was loud and i was curious so i ran up the street and found a flipped over car and someone yelling help so i stated to head over and my mom and brother had shown up at that time my mother told me don't even think about going over there she said it could blow up at any time i could not sit and just look i went while they call emergencie services i got to the car and said is everbody ok the woman in the passenger seat was awake but the male driver was unconchious the only one i could help was the little girl in the back of the sadan she had not been wearing a seat belt so she was knocked out as well but within reach do to the rear passenger window being broken so i pulled her out and got her to the side of the road and made sure she was still breathing as the woman franticlly repeated is my baby ok i told her she was breathing and sat there keeping company till emergencie veicles arrivedone of the nicest people you wiil ever meet is me never judge a book by it's cover

12/03/2008 5:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous declared,

Not all Goths self-harm. Besides being a Goth doesn't mean self-harming and suicide, all Goth means is that they wear different clothes, and listen to different music. I am a Goth and I have never self-harmed or even thought about it.

Wearing different clothes doesn't mean people don't care about other's, people have their own opinions and if they don't like a group of people because of their clothes or music then they need to grow up.

9/09/2009 3:05 PM  
Anonymous Wicked Goth Doll declared,

I am a Goth and I don't see why people treat us the way they do. We get beaten up and spit on, and insulted, what did we do wrong? Nothing. We did nothing wrong, we dared to be different and now we get punished for it, well I know there will always be someone waiting to be different and I think if you want to be someone different you should be even if people don't like it. Too bad, if they don't like it then tough, it is your life, live it don't let people tell you any different.

I used to care what people said to me, I used to listen as well. Then I got to high school and changed completely because I got sick of being told what to do and when to do it. Now I'm a Goth and people insult me and tell me I look stupid but honestly I couldn't care less.

9/09/2009 3:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous declared,

Oh wow, another one of these stereotype-postages.

congratulation to your oh-so-accurate-journalism %D

12/24/2009 5:40 AM  

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