May this writer state first that he am not a Goth, however he has met several people who subscribe to the lifestyle, some of them ex-girlfriends, and he’s gotten to know these individuals well.

Goths get a bad rap, particularly when linked to occultism, violence and anti-social music and behavior, however these links tend to be reactionary and misguided. Goths are sensitive, non-violent, esoteric and eclectic in their influences. They are accepting of differences in people and reject intolerance towards themselves and others.

They tend to take jobs in IT and public service due to the systematic and predictable nature of the work, and their perceived obsession with death is more a fatalism about the fact that we must die. They tend to believe in an afterlife not so much in the Christian sense but as a sort of limbo-state characterized by vampirism and hauntings whereby death occurs but isn’t necessarily final, and in some ways crosses over into life. They understand the temporary nature of life itself, as well as the experiences and relationships acquired on the way.

Goths are emotionally complex, often coming from emotionally distant, divorced or deceased parents and subsequently requiring the aforementioned stability in their relationships, hence their romanticizing of love and their difficult-to-gain trust as well as their empathy for life’s dispossessed.

To their detriment, they can become dependent on others and find it hard to end relationships, believing they’ve handed themselves over completely for relatively little return, ironically becoming victims of the very concept to which they seem so attuned - the unattainability of another person.

Their culture is characterized by predominately black or white antique-style clothing, funeral make-up and modern fetishistic accessorising; eg., constrictive boots and corsets, piercings, elaborate early-20th century hairstyles and B&D-inspired garb. An affection for 18th and 19th century European costumery is also common.

Their music tends to be taken from the ’80’s New Wave, particularly the darker aspects like Depeche Mode, The Smiths and The Cure, known for their fatalism towards love and life. Industrial artists like Rammstein, KMFDM, Einsturzende Neubauten and Type O Negative also feature in their repertoire, while references to early cinema like Metropolis, Nosferatu and the horror pulp of the ’30’s influence their image.

The modern “Generation Y” Goth or “Emo” exponent is a more homogenized, mainstream version of the hardcore 80’s and ’90’s adherent, seeming to lack the intensity of the original Goth attitude.

Like so many subcultures today, they seem to have taken the more superficial aspects of multiple groups and formed a postmodern mish-mash that isn’t really anything, but then as a Generation X-er this writer is probably just generalizing because he doesn’t like anything.