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(Title choice because MCR's Danger Days album turned 10 on Friday.)
Because I cannot justify buying all of the beaded strands I want from Bloodmilk Jewels, I finally dug out my beading supplies and taught myself how to use beading wire and crimp beads. I dismantled a garnet necklace that was a thrift store find (that I never wore), and the lava stone and sterling silver beads were already kicking around in the boxes.
As soon as I was done with this project, Vlad jumped up on a table he's not allowed on and knocked an entire box of beads on the floor. The box had been shut, but hitting the floor directly on the closed side meant nothing. But the final outcome was we moved all the living room furniture and reorganized everything!
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I posted the Gothic Charm School article I'd been wrestling with on Monday morning: "Not Pretty Enough" to be Goth. Thank you to my beta readers, who helped turn my angry profanity-laden rant into something readable! And there's been a lot of good discussion in the post comments, which is what I hoped for. It looks like there is going to be a movement to take back the #ThisIsGoth hashtag on IG and Twitter so it shows ALL the faces of goth, not just the pretty and perfectly posed models.
(Huh, I just realized I'm probably going to end up writing a follow-up post about how sponsored content, brand "ambassadors", and unboxing videos have also done damage to the goth community, and how can we help push back against that.)
Because I cannot justify buying all of the beaded strands I want from Bloodmilk Jewels, I finally dug out my beading supplies and taught myself how to use beading wire and crimp beads. I dismantled a garnet necklace that was a thrift store find (that I never wore), and the lava stone and sterling silver beads were already kicking around in the boxes.
As soon as I was done with this project, Vlad jumped up on a table he's not allowed on and knocked an entire box of beads on the floor. The box had been shut, but hitting the floor directly on the closed side meant nothing. But the final outcome was we moved all the living room furniture and reorganized everything!
---
I posted the Gothic Charm School article I'd been wrestling with on Monday morning: "Not Pretty Enough" to be Goth. Thank you to my beta readers, who helped turn my angry profanity-laden rant into something readable! And there's been a lot of good discussion in the post comments, which is what I hoped for. It looks like there is going to be a movement to take back the #ThisIsGoth hashtag on IG and Twitter so it shows ALL the faces of goth, not just the pretty and perfectly posed models.
(Huh, I just realized I'm probably going to end up writing a follow-up post about how sponsored content, brand "ambassadors", and unboxing videos have also done damage to the goth community, and how can we help push back against that.)
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It's hard to search hashtags on IG right now--they are suppressing recent posts in hashtag searches, supposedly to curb the flow of deliberately mis-tagged images on political posts?? But after reading your post I did a quick search of #goth and #goth* ... #gothaesthetic, #gothic, etc... and the images of people that came up were all, to a one, young, thin, white, and femme, and all were very posed, many looking more like they'd been shot by a photographer with a professional lighting setup than a selfie taken at home. I haven't kept up with #goth anything on social media in a while so these search results were discouraging, while they definitely validate your anger and concern, & the drive to diversify and reconnect the image, style, & tags with real people.
What boggles me is that this is STILL a problem--the subculture idealizes essentially the same beauty standards as the mainstream (thinness, youth, whiteness), has the same issues with brand names and status/classism--I remember this being troublesome for "Gothic Beauty" magazine twenty years ago when I was writing for them and it was troublesome even before that. We have broader, online communities and greater capacity to share more and more of our diversity and personal takes on goth now... and yet... your article still needed to be written! In 2020!
Well, I guess this means I can relate to your anger. I'm glad to see your article has had some positive feedback and may very well start some momentum--I hope it does!
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I really needed to read that whole article and that bit especially. Thank you.
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and I have been pondering your article and plan to respond. I also have the urge to play with all the damn makeup I have that I have not been wearing because well....everything...so I will see about getting a selfie and using that hashtag
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YESSSSSSSSSSSS
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I keep saying that I'm going to actually use my dang Instagram account for something...