Goth is Good
Julian Sanchez | April 14, 2006, 3:29pm
Boing Boing links to the findings from a recent study showing that the most psychologically vulnerable teens may benefit from mascara, ankhs, and Victorian chic. As it turns out—though the sample here is too small to be really conclusive—the stereotype of the goth teen as more likely to self-harm (by cutting or other methods) pans out, but usually the self-inflicted harm starts before they join the subculture, which the researchers suggested may provide the kids with "valuable social and emotional support from their peers." Again, the jury's still out, but findings like this do pull the rug out from some conservative cultural alarmism, the ideal type of which is this unintentionally hilarious Michelle Malkin column (best line: emo music is "a new genre of music...associated with promoting the cutting culture") blaming self-harm on... Christina Ricci.
Addendum: Chris Lehmann wrote about boomer fear of Kinderkultur here.
Vero de Rugy reported on earmarks to fight goth culture in Missouri here.
Jacob Sullum cavorts with the goth girls of the Web's premier alternaporn site here.
zeroentitlement | April 14, 2006, 8:50pm | #
I suppose if self-righteous twats like Malkin and Dr. Laura ever gave up bashing Hollywood and blaming it for poor uses of free will made waayy out in the heartland, they'd have axed 90% of their own schtick, right there. Over what else could they possibly shriek and squawk?
Hollywood is Hollywood precisely because their rarified denizens live totally differently from the rest of us, under totally different sets of motivations than do we. Christina Ricci, Courtney Love, Angelina Jolie, etc., are not only
not likely to get fired from their jobs for unorthodox endorsements and shock-talk, it boosts their careers and extends their celebrity shelf lives. It makes perfect sense that bizarre statements from Hollywood hotties aren't merely acceptable, but required for career advancement. People do what they need to do to pay the rent. That this phenomenon continues to baffle Malkin, Coulter, Dr. Laura, et al suggests to me that maybe they're sharing a single, somewhat shriveled brain between the three of them.
Gut feeling on this is any real pathology behind cutting occurs much too rarely for 70% of kids to have it. Except for a handful of them, they're doing it because it's an Internet-driven fad, and a proven means of getting attention from friends, family, and school authorities alike. Why else would they readily admit it? If you're really sick, you're not going running to Dear Abby or Mommy or Daddy and blubbering that you cut yourself. The little punk-ass b*tches are doing this to show how very little they care, or need to care, about anyone but themselves.
AFAIC, teens who die by cutting deserve Darwin Award trophies and little else. Heartfelt thanks for removing your dumb asses from the gene pool. Next...
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