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as i spend my time on this website, i see a lot of scenemo kids and y2k kids and anime kids gosh you name it. and i look at their profiles and they kind of look the same,, i feel like subcultures in general make you look a certain way, have certain interests or else you are considered a 'poser'. like you have to make it your IDENTITY. and it's so limiting in a way... i definitely felt that pressure as a teen when i was really into emo and scene but couldn't afford to buy a new wardrobe, so i had very little clothes. and it definitely made me feel like i wasn't emo enough even with all of my 'emo' interests lol.
back to the topic - because subcultures kind of demand you to be a certain way, i think they don't really leave you any room to explore your individual traits. you just tuck yourself in this box and yay, it fits! but please keep in mind that people, um, change with time whether you like it or not and you will grow out of this box, even if you fit in it now.
and what's tragic about all of this is that if you start liking the next aesthetic or core, there's kind of no way to mix them. you have to choose either this or that, sorry.
ps. don't get me wrong, when i was a small teen (i consider myself a big teen now lol) i loved subcultures as they gave me a sense of belonging to a community. i thought i needed to belong to some group to be worth seeing, what actually turned out to be not true at all.
BIG PS. if you don't agree with me it's okay, just please don't start an argument with me in the comments, i will not engage in it.
Comments
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fendi
I get this sooo badly like I'm so tired of subcultures bc its the same type of emo, scene, mcbling kid with no room left 4 creativity.. that's why I just say I'm alt because I'm a mix of both/all , idk there's just not enough creativity and subcultures are kinda dead now tbh..
Biggest_Wouser☆
So real
Randal
T0ttaly agree with this!
⋆⁺‧₊☽ laygi ☾₊‧⁺⋆
i understand what you're saying, one of my friends was realy into emo when i got out of style, i still listen to the music and i still love it but i dont dress up anymore, and when i redid the side tuft after years i sent a photo and his first comment was "you almost look like a real one" and I was quite upset.
basically you have to exceed a percentage of expectations or otherwise you are considered a poser... and it's really sad.
Warren
yeah no I totally get this. Like I've even had a few people tell me I'm not emo because I don't dress the way but... Idk man, I dress and act how I want to. Me liking Rubiks cubes doesnt mean I don't like mcr lol
✮𝓛𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓵𝔂𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷:(✭
I feel like u dont need a label at all XD like i feel like even if u label urself goth, punk, emo, scene or whatever it just limits when ur in a box :(
so i feel wear what u like! and like what u like tbh no labels needed
xX_cherryblood_Xx
I get that feeling, I was a teen once too choosing in between having a darker appeal to life or being only into cute things but what I found best for myself is simply to just be who I´m and I mean why not mix aesthetics and accept and fully embrace ourselves?, whether if today we are into something and with time maybe into something completely different, I just think we should be who we are and thats what makes each one of us interesting :D
Anthony
Yeah honestly thats kinda why I left those subcultures behind in general. Specifically the emo and subgoth cultures. Thats not to say I don't still like that type of music, I just kinda wanted to express myself however I wanted without worrying about if I fit into the standard of what an emo or goth "has to be like."
me right now, I'm coming back to both goth and emo but I'm constantly anxious to "not pass" and to look like a poser only bc I don't fit into the stereotype of clothing...
by ⋆⁺‧₊☽ laygi ☾₊‧⁺⋆; ; Report
Yeah the anxiety for that is totally real. Honestly though I would say wear what makes you feel good. At the end of the day, clothes are really just clothes. :)
by Anthony; ; Report
٤⭑ุ𝐌𝐄𝑽〄 ‧ !
It's always happened since the existence of subcultures but with the rise in popularity it's gotten on very popular apps that are famous for short-form content, it was inevitable that they would start being viewed as a dress-up-party instead of a community of kinship based on ideologies and music.
When the context is taken away, all that's left is perception, and when there's no real curiosity and open mind behind that interest, it falls flat on itself as simply an "aesthetic".
I think that's also why the "core movement" has gotten so popular. It allows for a bland cycle of trends that die down in a matter of weeks, with no real intent or concern for the creation of community.
alora
i agree with you, in all as teenagers (small or big teen lol) its a matter of trying to find out who ya are and some lil comfort things ppl turn to is just their way of figuring out and fitting in (our worlds push of conformity)
when i was younger in teen?hood? i should say i didnt even know what the hell i was doing
so kudos to those who have an idea of who theyre supposed to be
tbh idek if the person i am now is the person i like
much less the person i would have expected myself to become
and that is also the beauty of the life we have, everything is constantly changing
so the person u are now, 5 years further, u may not even recognize
5 years further u might not even exist
moral of the story to all is
nothing matters to the point everything matters in such a critical way
and everything you do is in effect of your future (can i shut up because what)
anywayss hey all
Ghostz
It's so real, I don't know, although in my case when I was about twelve or thirteen (I'm 16 now) I desperately needed to fit in with a group of people, so I loved getting into that kind of subculture (mostly being a goth, although my mom doesn't like me very much but oh well) and from that moment until a year ago I realized that I really don't like fitting into a certain group, I love it and I love with all my being being strange and not fitting in with everything Although sometimes I find it annoying not to have a specific group of friends, it's fun to spend time with people who, although they have several similar tastes to yours, don't quite fit in. there.
I'm sorry, I barely know English :/
Mooncake
Me gustan las subculturas, pero se supone que mi generación "rompe estereotipos" cuando realmente imponen más y se refleja en las subculturas. Todo un problema
Themicearehere
This is a really unpopular opinion but I also hate it when people add "core" at the end. I feel like it only made this problem worse, making it harder to explore other parts of yourself.
ABSOLUTELY VALIDDD OPINION
by Eva; ; Report
God the whole "core" thing pisses me off. Especially a problem in alternative music subcultures. You can take any type of music genre and add 'core' to it for it to be stripped of the bones of what it originally was. Makes it hard to find people with actual mutual interest in the genre and people who like calling christmas kids slowed + reverbed "emo" imo.
by Anthony; ; Report
n•cturnal
as a 16-17 yr old i felt like it was really important for me to have an identity or subculture i could identify with, esp since i was an edgy little dustball who wanted to be cool and brooding lol, so i just decided eventually that i would consider myself a "goth" and did all of the "goth" things with my affinity towards fog and winter and churches and goth music etc etc and only recently did i realize its a lot more fun to just exist?? like i still love goth music and i still like my little edgy aesthetics but i'm also learning that some of the cuter, more "basic" things i thought sucked as a teen are actually kind of a vibe and ik if i started portraying myself in those ways I'd lose my Cool Goth Points :,>
flimsyglitz
I feel you, especially after I discovered SpaceHey.
Many people have such cool profiles, and I wanted mine to look cool too, so I tried to make it reflect my interests. But instead I felt overwhelmed by the fact that my profile had to "reference" stuff from anime I liked, like it had to fit whatever elements were part of those certain animes or else my profile would look strange.
So, I took a field trip around the internet looking for cool stamps, blinkies and images I could relate to or felt would reflect me rather than my interests. I didn't get too far (so much for my internet field trip haha), but I liked what I found, so I put it all together on my profile. It doesn't look as cool as other profiles in the sense that the formatting or whatever is simpler, but I feel satisfied by how things turned out.
Iranallthewayhome
Im not saying people arent allowed to listen to other genres and I get theres new waves, but the new "emo" kids mostly listen to my chemical romance or something like that. They also dont know anything about what emotional hardcore is. Im into the real OG 80s/90s emo, but I dont call myself emo because I just know ill get called a poser by some random who only knows popular metalcore and post-hardcore bands. They will get mad at emo rap fans for calling themselves emo and I honestly agree that theyre not emo, but then they go and call mcr emo and dont know what pg.99 or some other og band is.
Itwaswritten.in.blood
Well, a lot of subcultures are circling around music or politics like emo or goth, but unfortunatelly they have been watered down to just to look or dress a certain way... And its been like this for ages. Its really easy for anyone to get called a poser, its kinda tragic. But on the other side its just the best to do/listen what makes you happy and not care too much for other peoples opinions ;P
R0ACH/MykaXP/
heya!11!! i do agree wh u, i am kinda a scene kid and i have a lot of history wh the sub cutler.. i doo very much agree wh you a lot i have seen many posers in my life like i have seen a kid say "im scene" blindly not knowing that makes u look like a poser, i listen to a lott of the music and have a playlist but as i said im not fully saying im scene i am saying that i did not really grow up with it and that im just kinda getting into it!!1!1 (pls ignore my bad english and explanigg XP)
did forget to say that ppl do get called a poser for the smallest reason, the scene community iz kinda toxic ngl :[
by R0ACH/MykaXP/; ; Report
Zoseph
OG subculture has been infiltrated by normies, and normies are the Fsatest to try to police who is "really" part of the culture TBH. Like, Jfashion got big on social media after being small for a long time, now suddenly there are "rules" but I've been here for 15 years and I know there are actually no rules.
Zach
I feel like subcultures are good, but they've been so dramatically changed over time to the point where it feels like you have to meet certain requirements to be a part of one lmao
Conforming to the standards of an aesthetic, subculture or core already feels stupid.
by Yoru; ; Report