Tolerance towards Goths: improved?

[m a r l o w]

Though some of us complain (okay, maybe quite a few of us) of being bashed and bitched at for being goth, overall (in my opinion) tolerance in the mainstream society towards goths has gone up. (Besides that anti-label and anti-poser fad) Does anyone share the same view as me on this? Talk about how adults view the younger Goth generation today, as opposed to adults vs. the 90's or 80's young goth generation.
I know many of us have only lived to reconize or experienced the "hardships" of being goth today, but perhaps some people have an outlook on how goths were back in the day.  

[GilAskan]

Tolerance of goths was actually excellent for much of the 80's, largely because it was so small that the only people who knew about it were those who were open minded enough to accept it.

The early 90's were pretty good too. Neil Gaiman did a lot for goths with his comic "Sandman". Popular on college campuses worldwide, Sandman (which featured multiple goth characters) helped expose the goth culture in an intelligent way.

It was really the late 90's that saw the beginning of mass goth hatred. With the media blasting that the Columbine kids were goths (though, to this day, there is no evidence that they were, and quite a bit of evidence that they weren't), the culture took a massive hit. This is the same period that mallgoths really starting showing up all around, and groups like Manson and Evanescence were growing in popularity. The massive boom of the word's usage led to major misunderstandings and public outrage.

In the last two or three years, goth's public image has gradually improved. It's still not what it was in the late 80's or early 90's, but it's gradually healing itself. In general, the public views goths as depressed kids who wear black and listen to metal. This isn't great, but it's better than the late 90's/early 00's definition of "Goths are suicidal, violent, Satan-worshippers".

We may be several years away from true mainstream acceptance, and it is possible that the real goth culture (as opposed to the mallgoth culture with which we are so commonly confused) will never really been seen by the general public. But we're making strides.  

[Spooky Wasabi Princess]

It's absolutely improved! Here anyway. Melbourne is the place to be, I think, if you want to dress like anything.
I don't get strange looks and I'm always talking to random mothers and children who couldn't give two shits about what I'm wearing.

But I guess if you live in some little town, Steven King style, you could get burned at the stake for dressing up. Still, I really think that people don't care as much.  

[Suriyel Seraphim]

They are still b***h goths out there that wants the improvement to go down.  

[Racer Q]

Well I am here as an observer on both points of views. I do not fully understand goths or the gothic lifestyle and therefore I have no intention of judging. However i have been judged before because I am a black male that is not interested in sports or rap music. Quite frankly I am loving the people in this guild and if it were up to me I'd like others to think the same way. As far as improvements. I have no idea what sort of stereotyping really goes on since i have not experienced it firsthand. based on most of the accounts from guild members it does seem that there are many misconceptions still floating around, but until I read about kids getting physically assaulted for the way the act or dress I will make the assumption that things seem to have gotten better for the gothic community.

P.S.
You guys rock my socks >.<  

[DarkPhsycotic]

Uhm, yes it have improved, as well as goth/ emo tolerancy of preps ( for example: I have an emo friend who hangs out with alot of preps, and most preps don't care if he's emo or not)  

[Sugarmuffincrumblecakes]

No unfortunatly. People down here b***h all the time on how goths are evil. It's quite annoying after a while...  

[DarkPhsycotic]

[~I~hopexyouxget~fat~]

No unfortunatly. People down here b***h all the time on how goths are evil. It's quite annoying after a while...

well, yeah i have had alot of negative attention and it does get annoying.  

[Nimewe]

Eh most people get used to it and some people annoy me about it most of the time. I live in Florida, and if anyone else lives in Florida quote this and tell me.  

[Devils_lilboy]

m a r l o w

Though some of us complain (okay, maybe quite a few of us) of being bashed and bitched at for being goth, overall (in my opinion) tolerance in the mainstream society towards goths has gone up. (Besides that anti-label and anti-poser fad) Does anyone share the same view as me on this? Talk about how adults view the younger Goth generation today, as opposed to adults vs. the 90's or 80's young goth generation.
I know many of us have only lived to reconize or experienced the "hardships" of being goth today, but perhaps some people have an outlook on how goths were back in the day.

I think that the tollerance has gone up for goths compared to how it was before. There are still some goth bashing going on like you said as in the ani-labels, and the you satan worshiper stuff. There are some good things going for goths in today's society right now... for example goths have more clubs/ gatherings, stores who welcome us, and the amount of goths grows more and more each day... so those who have been goth for quite some time have more people to get along with, and become friends with.  

[xX(~homicidal_muffin~)Xx]

I was at wal-mart, and fergie's 'twin' was pushing a baby-stroller and had another little girl holding her hand. She took one look at me, and said quite loudly, "You'll NEVER dress like that, will you, sweetie?!" the liitle girl giggled, and answered, "no, mommy!" and they laughed. so i turned to my friend Ashley and said, "we'll NEVER dress like THEM, will we, baby?" and then i put my arm around her shoulders. (i'm straight) So ashley goes, "HELL NO!" with a scared look on her face and we both walked away laughing our heads off.


(NOTE: Seriously, we actually thought that woman was Fergie From the BEP. She had long, blonde cornrow extentions in dark brown hair, the red-and-wgite tracksuit... the whole deal. FTW.)  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

xX(~homicidal_muffin~)Xx

I was at wal-mart, and fergie's 'twin' was pushing a baby-stroller and had another little girl holding her hand. She took one look at me, and said quite loudly, "You'll NEVER dress like that, will you, sweetie?!" the liitle girl giggled, and answered, "no, mommy!" and they laughed. so i turned to my friend Ashley and said, "we'll NEVER dress like THEM, will we, baby?" and then i put my arm around her shoulders. (i'm straight) So ashley goes, "HELL NO!" with a scared look on her face and we both walked away laughing our heads off.


(NOTE: Seriously, we actually thought that woman was Fergie From the BEP. She had long, blonde cornrow extentions in dark brown hair, the red-and-wgite tracksuit... the whole deal. FTW.)

Yes. Very FTW whee

As for my perspective... well, I haven't really seen either increase or decrease in public tolerance (from what I've seen, there are very few goths in Tucson, and of the ones I do find usually are the false stereotypes...) But at least my family has gotten used to it a while after they learned what I was getting into lol  

[ketchakik]

i've never noticed any real backlash agianst goths...maybe some giggles (usually from ppl who have the least reason to make fun of someone else's style)  

[Rainbow Shrapnel]

People are too busy bashing emos to bash Goths  

[DreamerSpirit]

I have seen the overall image of the gothic subculture improve in the few years since I became involved with it. Sure people will pester me about it occassionally, and there are still a lot of sterotypes floating around, but it's much better than it was only a few years back.

One thing which I believe has helped to improve this image is our portrayl in the media. I don't watch much t.v., but I have seen a little bit of Danny Phantom as well as NCIS, and both shows have one kinda gothy character. From the few clips that I've seen of those shows I can see that thier portrayal of goths isn't all that negative. The Danny Phantom girl is kind of sterotypical, but it's a kids show, so such is to be expected. She isn't really a malice girl, so thats good I suppose...
As for the NCIS girl, she's portrayed in a very good light. She's intelligent, and she's pretty much a normal human being. (Please note, I have never seen a full episode of either show, so these are mere observations based upon short clips...)

I think that the reason things were worse a few years back was due to Columbine, as GilAskan had mentioned.