Dear Gothic Divine,
The time of year has finally come in which Montey's exams are over, thus allowing her the time to contribute to this wonderful blog.
During my adventures in post secondary i've come across an inconsistency in how we, the dark and the beautiful, refer to ourselves and our place within society.
Guess what? You've been duped again by the media!
So many times I have heard a goth proclaim proudly "I am part of the goth subculture!" ... and I am taking this time to explain quite clearly why this is not the case.
How can one define a subculture? well it goes a little something like this....
"A group of people within a single society who possess, in addition to the cultural practices that they share in common with members of the larger society, certain distinct cultural practices that set them apart."
Now I know many of you are reading this and thinking "Oh, yes! That sounds as if it could be me....". I am here to tell you that this i not the case, so please, dear readers look at the definition of counterculture below:
"a group of people within a single society who strongly oppose the cultural patterns widely accepted within that society."
Doesn't this seem a little more accurate? If goth was a subculture, we would not dress and appear so dramatically different from the rest of the world, correct? Even our ideals in aesthetics differ greatly.... what is beautiful to us is not necessarily beautiful to the greater north american/european standards. The term "counterculture" is so much more effective for describing goths.... just think: if hippies were dramatic enough to be considered a counter culture so are we. Think of everything we are trying to make a stand against, and everything that you personally are fighting for. Doesn't it just make you want to proclaim "I am part of the goth counterculture!"
I sure do. I'm proud of who i am, just as we all should be:)
Remember: Goth is a proud counterculture, not a subculture!
