by Melissa Crossley

Created on: January 31, 2008

Everyone is entitled to dress the way they want and be creative in doing so. Take a look around yourself the next time your are at the mall. No one ever asks the question should preppy girls dress in mini skirts and knee high boots? Should cowboys be judged based on their belt buckles and boots?

Everyone during their younger years do things in order to separate themselves from everyone else, it's called diversity. And for someone to judge you based only on your appearance is something that should have ended as soon as the seventies rolled around. You can see it all, from Mohawks, to leather everyone has the right to choose and express themselves in anyway they damn well please.

Goths are harder for people to comprehend, partly due to the stigma surrounding the colors that are involved. There are actual articles out there warning parents that if their child starts to wear all black they could be suicidal, or part of some demonic cult. Black is nothing more than a color, or lack of color, or all colors mixed together depending on how you view it. People who dress as goths do so because they like the look, its different and they know that people will notice them. And that should go without saying. Anyone who dresses in a black flowing lacy dress, that is ripped on one side, blood red on the other with chokers of crosses certainly will draw attention. But it should not be drawing bad attention.

When you choose to put on an outfit that is out of the everyday norm, you know that people are going to see you, they are going to watch you. Most of the time it's out of curiosity and the majority of the time its out of hate or disgust. My question is, what gives people the right to determine what someone can and cannot wear? There was a time when you couldn't even get a job if you had a tattoo that was showing. Now days you are hard pressed to find someone that does not have one or more and they are not always in a place that can be hidden. So the company had to decide, do we not hire based on that and risk not filling that position, or do we change our view on body art?

The same changes need to be done with clothing and all the many styles that people embrace. Just because you wear black does not mean you are a bad and evil person. It means simply that you like that color. It amazes me that in this day and age, with all the diversity in this country that people can still be so close minded when it comes to certain things. What you wear does not make you who you are. It's simply a part of you, and nothing more. It does not change who you are or what you are capable of, it expands on your traits and allows people to see another side of you.

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