y'all love alternative people until they're actually alternative.

i'm honestly so tired of people glorifying being alternative while labeling actual alt people as weirdos or losers.

for example, all the guys who say that they want a "goth gf" but the second they see an actual goth person they'll mock them. and this also goes for those girls wanting a "loser metalhead bf" until he's actually a loser.

i see a lot of alternative content creators on social media get harassed for not looking a certain way, sometimes even by other alt people. and this comes from those who think that the only way to be alternative is wearing super "clean" clothes by fast fashion companies like shein or temu.

for example (i'm not giving out usernames), there's this instagram account that frequently shows up on my feed run by a 15 year old who likes alternative culture. this person gets picked on a lot, because of their gender and because their type of "alternative" doesn't fit into the idealized versions of the most well known subcultures like goth, emo or punk. they are constantly getting bullied for their clothes, accessories, hair, the fact that they don't have a great relationship with their classmates... have you all forgotten that having your own personal style and being weird and a social outcast are parts of what it's like to be alternative?

you guys claim to love self expression and different styles until it's not a skinny white person who fits in the beauty standards wearing premade clothes from big companies. you have this idealized version of what it's like to be alternative in your heads, as if it's just being a fashion icon on social media and buying all the trendy new goth clothes that every other alternative-looking internet celebrity is wearing. it's like the only type of "alt" you accept is an attractive young woman wearing watered down premade black clothes, while saying that you love seeing different aesthetics and self expression.

you claim to love goths yet call bats nests and thrifted clothes disgusting, and say that original 80s trad makeup looks ridiculous. you claim to love punks until they actually reject societal norms, the government and capitalism. you claim to love emos until they aren't skinny pale people who always have perfect hair. you think that this is all just a fashion gimmick: to be cool, you just have to pick a new aesthetic to fit in and buy every single piece of clothing from shein that fits into that label or you're a poser. and i'm sorry, but bullying people for having their own interests while you're claiming to be alternative makes you a poser, not them. you're explicitly going against the alternative lifestyle.

and just to clarify - i'm not saying that you have to like every single part about every single subculture/style, even if it's your own. for example i'm an emo who has never been huge into all the hello kitty stuff, and i've met goths who don't like teasing their hair and wearing a lot of makeup. i also don't really like all the 2020 alt stuff or scenecore. the problem comes when you go out of your way to harass people for not being an idealized stereotype that you made up in your head. and btw no, telling someone that they're a poser because they're claiming to be something they're not, misinforming people about alternative culture and refusing to get educated is not harassment. it's gatekeeping, which is necessary to keep the alternative scene alive.

the main thing about being alternative is expressing yourself how you want without caring if it's considered "normal" by society, and being true to your values. to me, a teen who refuses to stop wearing what they like just because of what other people say is more alternative than those copy and paste goth/emo/whatever people who only focus on appearance when it comes to poser checking. of course as long as this teen listens to alternative music, is interested in the culture and doesn't claim to be things they're not, this goes for everyone.

and all of this hasn't been such a big problem until brands started capitalizing off of alternative culture, as if you just had to buy the subculture of your choice to be a part of it, when the alternative mindset has always been very anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism. alternative people have always been the weirdos, the losers, the social outcasts, so stop romantizicing looking different to other people like it's just a fashion trend to get attention, because at this point we are just like the typical mean girls but dressed in black.