Of course sometimes these terms are justifiably deserved, stuff like this doesn’t help us

A lot of the bad rep is also heavily a matter of hearsay. It’s just an oft repeated and passed around bit of information that goths are cliquey, pretentious, judgmental, etc. I can’t really say to what extent this is true, I can only go by my own experiences and that’s purely anecdotal. I personally haven’t had much issue with it, but can’t speak for everyone. I got into the scene mostly going to events by myself and found getting along with people pretty easy. When you have similar interests it’s easy to make friends. It took a bit of time for it to happen, but I didn’t experience much judgment before then.

What I have noticed is that a lot of people take the hearsay to heart and seem to be presuming the negative things they have been told will happen before they even enter a club or interact with a group of goths. And when you enter the scene expecting this, it’s going to be easier to find. If you keep to yourself all night worried that everyone else is cliquey, well it’s less likely you are going to hit it off with some new people. It may appear to reinforce your beliefs about goths being cliquey, but in reality you’re just rejecting others before they reject you. There have been many times when I see new people at a club, they don’t seem to really be trying to be all that friendly. There have been time when I have seen people come from a single bad experience and start making blanket criticisms of the entire scene, which is mostly made up of people they don’t know.

Also it is important to keep an mind, sometimes there is a reason for people in the goth scene mostly sticking to their group as well. Sometimes people in “normal clothes” come into goth clubs to creep on people or cause trouble. Some of us are shy or anxious, just like many other people are. And in general, sometimes people are just out to have a good time hanging with their friends and aren’t particularly concerned with meeting new people at the moment. People don’t owe you their time or company. This especially applies to those just going to clubs to “hook up with hot goth chicks” or the like.

It is worth mentioning however, that all of the above applies to the real life goth scene. The internet is a different story, there are loads of examples of goths acting in a manner that lines up pretty well with the negative stereotypes. Places for online goth discussion seem to be very prone to nitpicking, arguing, drama and rudeness. Of course that kind of applies to most online discussion. The internet doesn’t have as many direct repercussions as being unfriendly to someone’s face, the latter of which I haven’t seen happen that often. But of course every time this happens it is well chronicled for everyone to see and form opinions on the goth subculture based around it. If someone primarily experiences goth online it shouldn’t be too surprising that they might be put off the scene by what they see.

It should be pretty obvious at this point that I think goth’s negative reputation is a bit unfair. There are certainly a lot of issues within our scene, but I don’t think any of these things are unique or intrinsic to goth. Their isn’t really anything especially unpleasant about goths compared to other people.

But what can we do about the negative rep?

I feel like the best way to tackle this is to try prove it wrong with one’s actions. Be friendly, be welcoming and show that you’re about more than just gloomy music and black clothes. If people are curious or interested, share why you’re into all of this in the first place. This doesn’t mean you have to be friendly to everyone. You don’t owe other people your time and energy, especially if they are rude. But if you’re feeling up to it, share a cool band with a friend or invite them with you to an event. See a new face at an event, try being welcoming. If you’re in an online space, try to focus on positive and constructive discussion. (I should take this advice myself and write a lighter article next time) I don’t realistically expect a lot of people to change their preconceptions just because we’re nicer, but since things already aren’t in our favor, the least we can do is not give them more ammo.

About the author: Zazie has no particular qualifications. She just likes goth rock and going to events a lot and sometimes writes about it for the Belfry Network.

Special thanks to Aytakk for consulting on the article and helping with the images.





