Gothic lifestyle...tell me about it

One warning: Don't try getting on a UK bus!

IIRC, Concordia and Joel_Cairo are both very knowledgeable about the Boston social scene.

Yeah, but this guy is looking to date girls, they can probably only help with boys.

1. Dress in black, maybe with a splash of red...blood red. So dark.
2. Wear makeup on days which don't end in "alloween".
3. Listen to crappy, angry music.
4. Be sad all the time.

That's about it.

If you don't mind me asking, why are you purposely trying to become goth? I thought that was just something unfortunate that just happens to kids, like cancer.

Before you commit, try pastel polo shirts and listen to some O.A.R. In my opinion, it makes for a more pleasant existance.

No idea about Boston, but I hung around with a lot of goths growing up in the UK and dated quite a few.

As a gross generalisation, most goths are generally very nice, intelligent, middle class people who're trying on a persona, sometimes to mask severe self esteem issues and a desire for attention. They tend to be very cliquey and will often reject people who don't live the goth lifestyle (despite claims of being very open minded).

Goth girls are fun but expect a lot of drama, and trying to get someone to stop cutting themselves/taking drugs far more often than is healthy/threatening suicide is a huge mental drain and futile if the person doesn't want to stop.

It might sound like I'm being a bit down on goths, but I'm just stating what I observed from a number of years on the outskirts of that scene. Some of my best friends are (ex-)goths

Keep an eye out for EBM/Industrial nights in your city or goth-oriented fetish nights (as opposed to swinger-oriented ones which tend to be full of middle aged wife swappers). Also, anime events and screenings of cult goth movies like Rocky Horror or Tim Burton films. Be 100% open-minded about absolutely everything except what is perceived as "mainstream" (evil corporations herding sheep around). Learn to enjoy things for the sole reason that they're different/unique, even if they actually suck in every other way.

Be aware of the vast range of goth cliques (cyber-goth, trad-goth, etc) as they're very different in many respects and there's quite a bit of rivalry. The bigger your city the more splintered the scene will be.

PS. As I got older and wiser I realised that the cool girls I wanted to spend time with weren't the PVC-clad club divas but the toned down, semi-goth nerd girls who mostly hung out at the back of the club talking to their friends. These girls are smart, different, sane and offer most of the benefits of dating the goth club divas with few of the drawbacks.

PPS. If you have no interest in following the goth lifestyle yourself, posing as a "fetish photographer" is a surefire way to sleaze your way into god-like status in most local goth scenes and requires no qualifications...

first thing, as with all subcultures like this, is to get into the MUSIC and not just be a poser that looks "goth"

check out:
-Christian Death (with either Rozz or Valor on vox, I prefer Rozz)
-Dead Can Dance
-Bauhaus (duh)
-Death in June
-Einstuerzende Neubauten
-London after Midnite
-45 Grave
-Sisters of Mercy-Fields of the Nephilim
-even mainsteam stuff like Siouxie, The Cure

If you don't like the music, don't bother turning goth

If you were in LA, the place to go is Bar Sinister on sat nite...they have a dress code of all black, and it's def "goth nite" even tho it's not billed as such. LOTS of hot goth-y chicks there.

Did you see Klynt and Vixen on The Amazing Race? The goth couple from Kentucky....they kicked ass, got to the final 4 I think before eliminated. They seemed like a fun couple, and cool people.

I've known a lot of goth kids over the years....most of em are smart as hell. And a hot goth chick is SERIOUSLY hot.

Watch the episode of South Park where Stan becomes a goth. It'll teach you what to do.

Einstürzende Neubauten ia a seriously interesting band, much more experimental than anything else. I saw them live once and their use of intruments made of junk metal coupled with an industrial/factory setting was quite impressive.

Blixa Bargeld ++1. Also played for Nick Cave.

Is Edward Gorey Goth?

I was a teen back when Goth seemed to first become its own little thing. What I always thought was that it was heavily peopled (excuse the pun) by fat angry chicks. They were mainly angry at being fat and not "conventionally" beautiful. It seemed to give them a new paradigm in which they could some how claim the beauty they so loudly despised. Interesting observation IMO.

I agree though, when a goth chic is hot, she's blazing hot. I think hot Asian goth chic is about as good as it can possibly come.

Most goths I see tend to be heavily made up in cheap, vaguely greasy cosmetics. I wouldn't want to touch that.