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| No | 19% | 181 votes | Total: 948 votes | |
| Yes | 81% | 767 votes |
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Add to FavoritesMentality to fashion sense: Goth is a style that some people adhere to. Yes. Adhere to. Standard issue black trench coat and Jhonen Vasquez inspired clothing patterns. Clown make-up, silver jewelry, piercings and clove cigarettes are the standard issue tradition of Goths everywhere.
Why is it such a universal standard? For it is easy to identify. To visually identify and brand by what a person is wearing. This is not a new concept. It's been something people of every race and belief have been doing since the age of civilization. If a person is judged by his rags and his stink against the person wearing a business suit and perfume, then why should a Goth be exempt from this process?
The fact is that they are not. Goth judge other Goths. "Too much make-up makes her face porous." "She's too fat for that corset." "I liked that band before you all did. Ergo I'm better." That is the culture of which Goths subscribe to. I liken this situation to that of a female with augmented mammary glands who wears a tight white t-shirt in the rain only to claim, "Why does everyone stare at me?" It's no longer a question of what is right more than it is a question of, "Are you stupid?"
For Goths it's not about standing out. It's about blending in with the outcasts. Here is a generic take on the thought process of what a Goth wears.
Dark clothes to show their affinity for the night. Night which is a dark romantic ideal for people who would look great under the pale moon light, suffering their pain in solitude; but want an audience to witness their pain. Silver jewelry is chosen over gold because it's akin to the moon and because Anton Lavey muttered something about gold being the element of Christian faith and Smurf coins everywhere. Knee high combat boots as to show how tough the person is which doubles as being dark; plus metal fastenings that counts as silver! Peacock colorings of the hair as to strut around all the better with aforementioned boots. I'm still at a loss for the make-up though. Isn't make-up used for people who are worried about what they look like to other people?
Why should Goth's be judged by what they wear? That is because Goth's dress the way they do to be seen. So judge them for the attention starved children that they are. Unlike us writers. We're better than that.
Learn more about this author, Errant.
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Yes
By looking at the bigger picture and seeing what this discussion means below the surface, we may realise that it isn't just to do with Goths. It is about personal freedom and individuality as opposed to prejudice. It would seem that in this world we live in anyone who looks or behaves differently from the norm is judged harshly.
This drive towards society desiring people to be alike perhaps stems from a distant and outmoded need for protection of the species. Thousands of years ago we humans would have needed to spot who was in our tribe instantly as we would fear that strangers could be a threat to us.
Nowadays we don't need to cling on to this primitive urge, which I believe prejudice against others who are different from us is. As we move into a higher consciousness than our primitive ancestors we need to be able to accept others as individuals. How they look is not an indication of whether they are dangerous or not.
Those who find it difficult to accept Goths are generally fearful. This fear is irrational in this time in history and needs to be seen for what it is. This fear is also no longer useful to us and is preventing some individuals from freely enjoying the right to be as they choose to be without judgement.
We are all judged by the way we look to a certain extent, but I cant help thinking that the way in which we are judged says more about the person doing the judging than it does about the person being judged themselves. It indicates a narrow viewpoint that doesn't allow for growth or change and which doesn't think further than the encased world of the owner.
People have so many hang ups about the way they look. These hang ups didn't come from nowhere. We are not born worrying about how big our nose is or how fat or thin we are. We enter the world free from prejudice about appearance. The prejudice and the hang ups develop as we learn them from people around us.
The way that society hands out judgements on others because of the way they look is a painful reminder that we often base our judgements on superstition, ignorance and fear. Some people find the Goth look attractive, while others find it unattractive. But this doesn't mean that society can take away the choice of Goths to dress as they please.
The very question of whether or not Goths should be allowed to wear what they want without being judged is in itself already a prejudiced statement. No one has a right to consider whether they can 'allow' another to dress as they please, unless it is for work and the employee takes the job while agreeing to such restrictions.
If society allows a prejudice to become acceptable then this breeds further hate and fear. It gives people the green light to treat others badly who don't conform. Perhaps the Goth movement is a reaction to this mass conformity being outdated. Maybe we need to move on as a society and spiritually grow.
Learn more about this author, Bridget Webber.
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