A study on the BBC Website has today reported that teenage goths are more prone to depression and self-harm (here's the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34065763">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34065763), firstly I have to praise the BBC's report for it's balance and un-sensationalism (unlike The Daily Mail's doom-predicting article about the Emo movement http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-566481/Why-child-safe-sinister-cult-emo.html">://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-66481/Why-child-safe-sinister-cult-emo.html which still makes me die laughing - no pun intended).
As a late teens/early 20s and now (sadly) late 20s part-time goth I do concur with a lot of what the report says. One of the teenagers interviewed points out that she was depressed and self-harming long before she became a goth, she says that when she discovered the alternative lifestyle it's music was a comfort to her and was the first type of music that reflected what was going on in her head.
As I now realise with hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, I've in a way always been a bit depressed (at primary school I just thought everyone had days or moments when they wanted to cry or hide) as part of my Borderline Personality. Music and (as much as you can have as a teenager) lifestyle-wise I was about the same as everyone else until I was about 14 - I tried to dress as cooly as the popular kids and listened to the same pop, dance and rap music. My cultural awakening so to speak was when the Nu-Metal wave appeared with bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and punk-lite bands like Blink 182 and Green Day. It was the time of the classic 'band hoodie', showing your allegiance to your favourites.
The bands wrote about classic teenage woes of feeling isolated and no-one understanding you (easy to mock but I still get the same nowadays), best of all they were the complete antithesis to the music and style that the 'cool kids' who made my life hell liked. It felt like a rebellion against them, a rejection of their views about me and showing them that I didn't care. At college there were no uniform restrictions so I lived in my black or purple flared cords and my Nirvana/Black Sabbath/Green Day tops. My eye shadow was black and for the first time I felt confident in my 'look'.
Naturally when the 'Emo' movement came around in 2007 it suited me too, admittedly I was probably 5 years to old but ya can't win them all. There was so much good music assoctiated with it too - I loved My Chemical Romance's classic Black Parade album, AFI, Aiden, The Used etc. I guess I was a classic Emo as I lived in black, even more than before, and was going through a very depressed stage with a lot of self-harming. But then again so was my friend Nat and she hated rock music, preferring dance and pop! The dark lyrics were almost a copy script of what my head was saying, they still apply on my bad days even now. The place I worked at the time was pretty casual so I could wear my My Chemical Romance top and black jeans to my heart's content!
Nowadays I don't get to 'goth up' as much as I like, it's not particularly work appropriate (although today I've managed a black dress, black leggings & DMs with my 30 Seconds To Mars hoodie to throw on when I leave), although I manage to sneak in plenty of eyeliner and dark red lippies, I also have my favourite MAC Cyber lipstick for the weekends (it's a gorgeous dark purple). I also have the irritating habit of catching a tan no matter how much sun block I wear (I use a Factor 50 kids one for god's sake!) which is the #1 goth fail! I prefer my hair dyed black, if it's any other colour I don't feel like 'me'. I love my piercings and black nail polish - although I have upgraded from Claire's Accessories & Miss Sporty polishes to Avon (my favourite is their liquorice shade) and Opi.
I can also make as much 'goth' jewellery as I have room for, today I'm rocking my self-made silver necklace with a skeleton hand, 2 skeletons and a skull on it along with my favorite blue skull ring. Halloween is still my favourite day of the year, it's basically my Christmas, and it's build up is the perfect excuse to make loads of cool decorations - skulls, bats and spiders a-plenty!
I guess what I'm trying to get across is that there is nothing 'wrong' with kids turning to a movement that they can identify with, feel included in and supports them. In my opinion a rejection of the mainstrea is a good thing, it shows independant thinking and an open mind to new experiences and cultures. I'm thinking perhaps I should hand out some goth starter packs - some black nail polish, studded wrist band, eyeliner and jewellery!
And of course it could be for worse, they could become chavs!
Love Jen
XxxX
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