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battybattybats
11-13-2008, 10:38 AM
A recent post in another thread had me reaching for my mp3 player to enjoy a song whose lyrics I was quoting (hand on my heart by Shriekback) which always reminded me of crossdressing.

Well on my way to find it i found near it a song by Ministry about Goths and Intolerance and it reminded me how much Crossdressers could learn from other communities with similar experiences.

After all much of what i worry about now with intolerance for being a CD is what I've already been through years ago for being Goth, and now it's been years since i got the slightest bad reaction for being Goth. Yet the Emo kids are going through what Goths once went through in some places these days and Goths in countries like Russia face a lot of hostility today too.

That Goths, whose appearance is often far more extreme than your average CD and who it used to be said were all satanists and drug users and suicidal etc can gain general public acceptance even in small country towns really should show that changing social attitudes in just a matter of years is really possible.

So these are the lyrics from Ministry:


Well I live with snakes and lizards
and other things that go bump in the night
'Cuz to me everyday is Halloween
I have given up hiding and started to fight
I have started to fight
Well any time, any place, anywhere that I go
all the people seem to stop and stare
they say 'Why are you dressed like it's Halloween?
you look so absurd, you look so obscene'
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
why should I take the abuse that's served?
why can't they see they're just like me
it's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
well I let their teeny minds think
that they're dealing with someone who is over the brink
and I dress this way just to keep them at bay
'Cuz Halloween is everyday
it's everyday
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
why should I take the abuse that's served?
why can't they see they're just like me
it's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
why should I take the abuse that's served?
why can't they see they're just like me
i'm not the one that's so absurd
why hide it?
why fight it?
hurt feelings
best to stop feeling hurt
from denials, reprisals
it's the same it's the same in the whole wide world

I go shopping for groceries Goth, with hand-carved skulls of real bone hanging round my neck and end up discussing the music of Covenant with the woman behind the till because she is also a goth, the style visible even while conforming to the supermarket unifrom regulations. I wear my black nail polish, black velvet 'pirate' shirt, bats hanging from my wallet chain and no one is worried. I go to th cinema with heavy eyeliner and black lipstick and no one is worried.

Because years ago even before I heard that song I followed its advice. And lots of other Goths did likewise. And intolerance isn't absent, but its not what it used to be by any means when people were often hostile but I don't even get the occassional heckles in the street anymore.

We could have all stayed in our rooms singing 'Bela Lugosi's dead' and watching Hammer movies but we didnt. I didn't.

I'm not as strong physically as i was then, I can't run as fast or fight as well so im being slow about it, being cautious, but I'm not one for hiding, for giving in to terrorism, so I push my goth androgyny more and more.

Crossdressers come from all walks of life. I'm sure that there are many lessons from the various sub cultures CDs here belong to that can help us so please share them.

caressa
11-13-2008, 10:58 AM
Interesting...

Society, in my opinion, has always seemed grimly determined to sexualize as many aspects of the Goth-lifestyle as it could, thereby absorbing it into a greater fabric.

battybattybats
11-13-2008, 11:41 AM
Interesting...

Society, in my opinion, has always seemed grimly determined to sexualize as many aspects of the Goth-lifestyle as it could, thereby absorbing it into a greater fabric.

But there has always been big crossovers between the Goth, Fetish and BDSM cultures. Sexuality has always been a part of, but far from all of, Goth culture.

Look at the clear eroticism in 18th century Gothic literature like Sheriden Le fanu's Camilla and Bram Stokers Dracula, both with strong same-sex sexuality themes in parts. The band Flesh For Lulu in the early 80's with their very feminine makeup and on the concert dvd I have the lead singer dropping his pants at the end of a concert. Souxsie Sioux wearing a catsuit when I saw her in concert early this decade.

There always has been a lot of sexuality in Goth culture, one of the reasons homosexuality bisexuality and crossdressing is much more accepted amongst Goths than much of the rest of society is because Goths can be more open about greater varieties of sexuality and sexual expression, even when I've known goths that were strong Christians who remained virginal till marriage.

Not every Goth is into BDSM like they are portrayed in many films, but those who are are more able to be open and honest about it amongst Goths than the rest of society.

And you've missed the 'child-goth' movement with societies reaction to Goth!
Look up the following childrens shows: Mona the Vampire, Young Dracula, Frankensteins Cat, Growing Up Creepie and Ruby Gloom.

And thats just a few off the top of my head.
Gone from being reviled and portrayed with negative stereotypes all the time to Goth-culture affirming childrens shows with strong themes of empowerment, self-identity, tolerance and the like.