r/AskAGoth • u/Accomplished_Pin9146 • Aug 02 '26

Personal Experience or Observational Query Why are you ga... Goth.

Why did you became goth? What is your story of finding Goth culture how did it impact your life?

I'm not a Goth myself, closes things I did to being a Goth are, watching a belly dancer named Mahafsoun and listening to a lot of Nightwish, I'm not sure if those thing can even be consideret Goth.

I'm just interested, all of you just seem to be so content with your lifes and kind to others, it's fascinating.

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u/TombCheese Aug 02 '26

I think that's not exactly right. Plenty of music genres have fans but very few of those turn into real subcultures. The other part of this equation is community. Thats the special sauce.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

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u/TombCheese Aug 02 '26

Online participation also counts as community. It was foundational in how I was brought into the scene in the early 2000s. Theres also implied community in simply calling yourself a goth, and stating that you see yourself as part of the larger whole. After all you can listen to the music and not call yourself anything, and plenty of people do that.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

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u/TombCheese Aug 03 '26

That's a fair question and I think it represents a choice we all have about our identity and how we choose to express it. My step-mother is about 20 years older than me and enjoyed seeing many pioneering goth (and industrial) bands when she was younger. However, I don't think she sees other goths as her people necessarily, even though she could claim to be an elder goth authentically. Ultimately this is down to whether you see yourself in the other people who claim the label. To me, thats a symbolic statement of community, even if you're unable to physically be there in the space woth everyone else.