Many people hear the term ‘Goth’ and imagine satanic worship, pseudo witch craft and gothic clothing that reflects a person’s dark and depressed mind set; however just as with adult life, following a fashion and a set style during teenage life is merely a way of finding an identity and communicating to the outside world who you are and what you’re about.
In the most basic terms, Goths are part of a social group and belonging to social groups form an essential part of human life; what’s more is that very often persons deemed to be Goths either by themselves or by others may be involved in a deeper level of thinking and have interests in far and wide reaching areas of literature and alternative culture (which has to be a good thing, right?).
Signs that your child may be a Goth
There are no hard and fast rules as to what traits do and do not make a person a Goth, the following points should just be treated as little signs that may point towards your child being a Goth.
- They may listen to heavy metal or gothic music,
- They and/or their friends may partake in role playing games either online or in person,
- They may have a particularly keen interest with films that have a cult following,
- They may also research and collect literature based around occult occurrences,
- They may dress in black (or more recently black teamed with bright and bold colors),
- They may style their hair in bold and outlandish ways.
What does being a Goth really mean?
Everyone has different viewpoints on what being a Goth means, however in the traditional and truest sense of the word it means a person that has a fascination with ‘the occult’ (which has an even more mystifying meaning of a ‘knowledge of the hidden’. Whatever form this takes it is nothing to be concerned about, in fact it is very much a point of personality strength, as it means that a person looks beyond the obvious and reaches for more meaning in life than what is before them.
However, as with many words, they lose or change their meaning over time, and today a person that has termed themselves a Goth may be more based around a hybrid of pop culture and cutting edge looks that are more high fashion than heavy metal.
As with all labels in life, a generic tag does not and cannot define the traits of a large group of people; ‘being a Goth’ (whether through your child’s perception or you own) is merely a way of showing individuality and establishing themselves as their own person in the world. Whatever group, sub group or niche society your child may or may not belong to, you know that regardless of appearance or interests that you may not understand they’re still your baby; but of course they won’t admit this, at least not until their early 20s and they appreciate just how great a parent you are!
The content above was submitted as a guest post.
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