Is it possible to 'become' Goth? Or is just natural?

[JTHMFrAeK-Ghoat]

I think that there is a foundation darker thinking in a person that can lead them to be goth, but that there are also people who go through experiences that change the foundations of their very personality and inborn philosephy. I've always liked darker things, I rooted for the Empire in the Star Wars movies, I thought those girls with the purple hair and the nose piercings were awesome ( I was too little to know what goth was XP), and in grade two I drew myself as a demon for a school project.... I had to redo it >> But I still have the drawing : D! Anyways, in short, I think there are people born with a certain 'goth-ness' to them, but that there are also people who find it later on in life.  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

Black-Shrapnel

I've always liked darker things.

I agree with you - black people can be hella sexy redface  

[Henneth Annun]

-Resurrected Writer-

Black-Shrapnel

I've always liked darker things.

I agree with you - black people can be hella sexy redface

heart  

[moonclown]

"natural" goths are kinda rare like the ones that they love black and dark and even though he/she agrees(in the corners of a his/her brain) that black s#i7 the community...even rarer if he/she has no idea that theres a thing called "goth". my brother once told me that his classmate loves everything black, and he really acts and talk like a goth.then sooner/later he(my brother) ask his classmate if he's a goth...his 'mate just answered "what's a goth?"

not-borned gothic but learning gothic is a "natural" thing, same like the "natural" goth person, learner believes in sumthing ryt?,and proudly i fall in this category  

[Henneth Annun]

moonclown

"natural" goths are kinda rare like the ones that they love black and dark and even though he/she agrees(in the corners of a his/her brain) that black s#i7 the community...even rarer if he/she has no idea that theres a thing called "goth". my brother once told me that his classmate loves everything black, and he really acts and talk like a goth.then sooner/later he(my brother) ask his classmate if he's a goth...his 'mate just answered "what's a goth?"

not-borned gothic but learning gothic is a "natural" thing, same like the "natural" goth person, learner believes in sumthing ryt?,and proudly i fall in this category

Speak English? neutral

Because I don't understand what you just said.  

[AdrianaKitten]

It's as natural as unnatural I think, to be darkly inclined. 3nodding
To answer this fully would require a, for lack of a better word, stable answer to "What is goth?" or "What makes someone gothic?"
IMO goth is somone very darkly inclined with a healthy love of art. I might or might not add "an intellectual" because I know some goths who can be considered airheads, which does not make them ignorant or unintelligent, just airheads. (Being an airhead and knowing other people I consider goth, whether they do or not twisted ) Goth is also just a label which leads into a whole different debate but anyway....
rolleyes It's natural for those who grow up with gothic tastes and unnatural for those who grow up the oppposite and decide they like this after let's say 30. Maybe this 30 year old denied his/herself the joy of wearing black to fit in or maybe they just never knew they'd like gothy things until they tried them. It could be said that this person must have had some exposure to something alternative or gothic and denied it but even if they did, what if it didn't make an impact until after 29? neutral
I think the culture, as dear as it might be to our hearts, isn't as exclusive as we'd like to think. I do think that we should accept those with a genuine interest or liking for it with open arms whether or not they stayed up until 4AM watching Tales of the Crypt when they were 7.
dramallama  

[AdrianaKitten]

XWraith_LordX

-Resurrected Writer-

Black-Shrapnel

I've always liked darker things.

I agree with you - black people can be hella sexy redface

heart

heart heart  

[Gothic Muffin of Doom]

Well, eh, I'm not sure there is such thing as a "Goth" gene or something of the sort. But since people are born different, It seems to me that some of them have tendencies to become Goth while the others pick it for a reason they have whatever it is.
I fall in the first category.I had dark tendencies since I was a kid, and I started growing to like "goth" things without even knowing what it was, the last part was actually finding out that this lifestyle was called Goth.
As for the people who suddenly turn into Goth, they prove that it's something you can learn, and i think they need to spend more effort than me. I sometimes admire them (of course the poseurs don't count here).  

[Rellik San]

Vampyr Heartagram

Well, eh, I'm not sure there is such thing as a "Goth" gene or something of the sort. But since people are born different, It seems to me that some of them have tendencies to become Goth while the others pick it for a reason they have whatever it is.
I fall in the first category.I had dark tendencies since I was a kid, and I started growing to like "goth" things without even knowing what it was, the last part was actually finding out that this lifestyle was called Goth.
As for the people who suddenly turn into Goth, they prove that it's something you can learn, and i think they need to spend more effort than me. I sometimes admire them (of course the poseurs don't count here).

Its also possible to rebel out of goth tendencies... for example me, born a goth, raised a goth, became a metaller (much better music and much better fashion for guys in my opinion). Which just shows you can unlearn whats genetically coded in all seriousness, I think a lot of it is more a case of nature over nurture for those who learn it and nurture over nature for those of us "born" into the culture.  

[sublime_necromancer]

tsako

I mostly think that it comes from your environment, not genetics. But i only think that because, well i suppose if my mom hadnt been goth i think i might not be goth xd (i think she is bi-polar too) and my dad is a really morbid person and used to have a band until he lost one of his fingers (he has an awesome CD collection as well) but they both are really morbid and dark and i suppose that it might have had a little bit of influence from my parents.

Firstly....DUDE! YOU"RE SO LUCKY TO HAVE GOTH PARENTS! *bows in admiration*

Secondly, in the more western side of my city, you'll see more goth influenced aquaintances and families. I think part of the influence is a sense of open-ness and freedom to explore your inner interests and just be who you feel comfortable to be. Like yesterday, I was on the subway, and I saw this awsome couple with their kid...the father seem to lean more towards "gothabilly" aka...less about the hardware (bondage pants, collar, spacers), and more about a combo of trucker and biker...kinda Rob Zombie in his early days...before the dreads. The mother seem to be a combo of Victorian goth and gypsy fortune teller mixed with 50's highschool girl.  

[broken_joker]

I suppose it was the way I was born - no matter how much I tried to deny it when I was younger. There was always something a little different about the way I thought and reacted.

For me, it was a natural transition as I got older. I've always been attracted to the more romantic, complex and darker things in life that would scare most other people.

My mum was one of the late 70's/early 80's punks and my dad was one of the first Goth's at the Batcave. Although, I didn't find this out until I hit sort of 14/15. My older brothers are both metal/goth types, my sister in law is, my niece is a year old but already knows how to headbang and mosh - she has her own little metal roar which is really cute. All the goth's, metalheads, punks and so on call my mum 'Mum'.  

[Twisted Maggot]

I think I was born with the attitude, but I never really dressed goth until I was about ten or eleven... I was always attracted to "scary things," as my friends say. But my mom wouldn't let me dress goth until I was old enough, or something like that... I don't know. xd She said I was always a goth at heart.  

[8GothicGirl9]

well it is possible to become goth.When i was little, i was a total prep. I loved pink so much that i told my friends that it could not be their favorite color and its already mine. LOLNow look at me! a total goth, wears black all the time and NEVER wears pink. Its amazing how things can change like that  

[Henneth Annun]

8GothicGirl9

well it is possible to become goth.When i was little, i was a total prep. I loved pink so much that i told my friends that it could not be their favorite color and its already mine. LOLNow look at me! a total goth, wears black all the time and NEVER wears pink. Its amazing how things can change like that

Habitualy wearing all black clothing does not a goth make.  

[NewAgeAntique]

The whole idea of being born a steriotype sort of makes me twitchy... You could possibly be born with the predisposition to not care what others think about you, but if that leads to being goth or not depends on what the child is exposed too, and what sort of decisions he/she makes. In the broad sense of being more creative and independant, I think you can be born with that, or it could be nurtured, but babies are not born wearing eyeliner and listening to the Bauhaus.

But actually, to randomly decide one day to become "goth" after living a life of normalicy seems rather unlikely to me. Maybe it's just because I personally have never fit in, so it's never been a choice for me. I had the label stuck to me by others because I'd like to dress like an LOTR elf and I played imagination games all the time with my few friends and just ignored the rest of our elementary school. And that has just been me through the years. It's one of the reasons I can wear a pair of jeans and still be welcomed into groups of alternative people, because it isn't about the clothing really. The clothes are one of the funnest parts, but people get too hung up on the image. I think being Goth is more about just stubbornly being an individual in the face of a society that doesn't embrace individuality.