By: Asherra

I was scrolling through a few dark culture forums the other day, reading posts here and there and I came to a forum where someone had posted a picture. The picture was relatively artistic in nature with high contrast and deep color saturation. Obviously this picture had been professionally taken. At first glimpse the content was of a “naughty nurse” however that description proved to be an understatement. There was latex everywhere! The woman was leaning over, her white latex corset came just under her breasts and her nipples were taped over with white pasties in the shape of a medical cross. In her left hand she held a needle and on her face was a smug, yet seductive smile. My first opinion was that the picture was the epitome of what *I* knew to be ‘gothic’ style but to my surprise, peoples comments did not reflect my assumption.

There were comments of “this photo makes you look like a whore!” and “Disgusting!”. The one comment that several posters seemed to concur with (with many posts of “I agree with ^^^” and “right on!”) was a comment left by a woman that read something like “this picture is everything that is wrong with Goth! It goes against every principle that Goth was founded on. Its sick and perverted! If I wanted to look at sick porn, I would buy a subscription.” This made me think, why in the world is this picture supposedly ‘everything wrong with Goth’. In my short years, I have arrived at the conclusion that the gothic aesthetic is dark in nature and beautiful in its form. Yet by its very definition, it is beyond all else outside of the normal cultural aesthetic.

Gothic aesthetics come from the desire to have something other that what popular culture has defined as acceptable. Thus its wildly different and radically obtuse styling comes into play. Gothic people by nature lean more toward the unusual and ‘spooky’ side of things and decidedly away from what popular media defines as acceptable. It’s true that the foundations of the gothic movement were rooted in the romantic and courtly styles of the Victorian era, but more over were founded on the need to resist the mainstream in every way, shape, and form. This included dress, music styles, and personal views on society. This, above all else is the principle that Goth founded on.

Why then if this is true, does a picture that is obviously outside of the ‘popular acceptable’ realm and completely dark in nature, so against the gothic style? The only reason I can find is that instead of the romantic and courtly style, this picture leans toward the psychotic and insane aesthetic. In it’s nearly 40 years of growth has acquiesced and acquainted itself with many varieties of sub-cultures from cyber and industrial groups to greaser and roll playing enthusiasts. All of these make up the great pallet that is gothic culture. By choosing to become a Goth, we define ourselves as different from society at large. Because of this we have no right to judge others who also embrace this ideal. Goth’s today recognize the fact that there are different types of Gothic styles, thusly there is no one “true” aesthetic that is ‘Goth’.