Emo Scene Community

Referring to the BBC article... It's a worthwhile article and I pretty much agree with it. The title may ring some alarm bells to people until you read the whole thing. But that's the media.. I mean a lot of people hate to admit the goth and emo cultures having a higher than "normal" amount of depression and self harm, but from running this site for many years I feel they do. However as the article states "the vast majority of teenage goths will have no problems, an important minority may need extra support." Also as people have stated in the article some were previously depressed before being into the goth culture and attracted to it. This is not necessarily a bad thing at all! More a good thing to try and connect with others, feel wanted and have support. Mental health, depression, self harm etc really is in the news a lot lately which again is positive thing to raise awareness and not shy away from the sensitive but growing issues.

Then 2 stand-out bits on the Guardian article: "I don’t think you find it [goth]. I think it finds you." "goth might just be the thing that saves them."

This raises the age-old question: "are we depressed because we listen to the music, or do we listen to the music because we are depressed?" Another point raised by the Guardian that I find interesting: "You feel hopeless, and you listen to music that expresses hopelessness, just to know that someone out there understands." I think most of us are depressed before the culture finds us, that this culture can save more lives than it ends. Look at the generalised view of our music: *imitates idiot in the year below me screeching and miming cutting himself* (a real person did this while asking if I listen to alternative music) But the lyrical content is mostly the opposite: "I'm not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone" "I just want to find a place to call my own, to mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone" "There's glimpses of heaven in everyday" "If I were you I'd put that away" "It gets you down, we've all been there sometimes, but tonight I'll make you feel beautiful once again" "We're all fifty shades of fucked up, well join the club!" It's about trying not to feel so alone, helping each other through depression, finding hope even when things are hopeless. Knowing others have gone through the same things and there's someone who understands. The bands spread more messages about not cutting and not ending it all than anything. It's unfortunate that the media misses all this. That the message about alternative culture is depression, suicide and self-harm. This isn't what you'll see when you glimpse at the forum on here ;) it's there obviously, because we aren't afraid to talk about mental health and depression. But it's so we can help each other out, not to encourage self harm and suicide. There's so much more to alternative people than that. It's music, art, putting our feelings into words on paper, fashion, actually having a laugh (oh the shock at emo/goth/scene/alternative kids laughing!), sharing experiences and helping each other. I'm yet to see a documentary that shows us in that light and not in the way we're so often portrayed in the media. Someone should make one! Also, if anyone is interested, the study mentioned on the BBC article in which teens said what culture they identified with and took a test to see how depressed they are, was mentioned in yesterday's Sun. Chavs, Sporties, Keeners and Populars were rated happiest while Bimbos, Skaters, Goths and Loners were rated the most likely to be depressed. I don't agree with what the article was saying, but I'm interested to see what other people who have seen this think. For those who haven't seen it, I will try to upload an image on here tomorrow sometime :p