Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study

These observations are from my own observations in San Francisco,
United States:

As I’m sure you noticed with your participant study about the Goth
Culture, the real key to this crew is extreme boredom. It’s spurned out of
a watered-down white (there are a few more 'minorities' in the Goth
Culture, but is overall 'white/caucasian') culture that offers nothing of
substance for a group of youths who are: highly imaginative, critically
intelligent (I've met quite a few Goths who were of remarkable
intellect/genius IQ & very well read), emotionally sensitive, socially
reclusive, and somewhat effeminate (the males). This combination makes
this bunch a group of ‘misfits’ that have no real use for standard issue
mores of society, and create their own mild ‘culture’. It is of no
surprise that this subculture has the highest rates. There isn’t one
shred of anything within the Goth Culture that encourages positive
behavior. The choice of drugs, clothing, hair styles, clubs, etc, are
designed to further distance themselves from ordinary society.

Heck, when you’re already depressed from any lack of interest in doing
anything (except shoot for being in a band or busting your butt to become
a significant artist), why not be enthralled with dying, -what other
really enticing choices are there? What Leaders/Governments don’t lie, or
what truly decent, non-soul-sucking careers exist (that you can be proud
of, and also have security in holding) anymore? The best thing this
culture has going for it is ‘safety in numbers’ and that is all.

Unfortunately, even within the Goth culture, there are serious codes of
conformity which smack of hypocritical display. They look almost
identical, dress accordingly for acceptance/identification, and listen to
the same music. They don’t want to be ‘bothered’, and prefer to be left
alone by society. I have never, ever seen a 'sober' Goth. Most Goths get
bored over time with the same old scene and realize their original
romanticized attraction was nothing more than a falsehood.
Most Goths make a humble (in rare cases, an excellent living) financial
career out of drug dealing. A few have their act together with decent
jobs in the computer fields. Some find their way into local theaters, or
appear somewhat ‘dressed down’ and playing in classical symphonies (I knew
of one that played the violin in a classical ensemble). The major
contribution this culture has added to mainstream society is a few good
music bands (Bowie, Bauhaus, Ministry, Sisters of Mercy, etc.).

Traditionally, they like staying up all night, sleeping all day and eat
speed/LSD/psychedelics/herion/Extasy more than common food alone (being
super-skinny is the ‘correct look’). A few have some very wealthy
families whom they ‘sponge’ cash from, and in turn, buy loads of dope for
their much poorer buddies (making them super popular/the elite) and can
also afford the nicest leather/latex gear above all others. The sex scene
(most are bi-sexual or gay) within the Goth culture is off the scales, and
most have unprotected sex (and it should be noted about the really
dangerous fascination with ‘vampirism’: what do you get when you mix
unprotected sex with ingesting another’s blood AND on lots of
drugs?.....Extreme stupidity and a short lifespan. Wouldn’t you kill
yourself if you found out you had HIV?! Not very sexy anymore!) I’d have
to say this bunch ought to be handed over the whole Porn Industry for
their extreme fascination of it. Between having a very advanced sexual
appetite, taking copious amounts of drugs, staying up all night, and dodge
EVER having to cope/socialize with common people, AND listen to music
which is totally depressing; how long will it be before catching HIV, one
or more VD’s, gaining a criminal record/getting busted for dope, and then
becoming so despondent from being bored after trying out every seedy and
sinful indulgence with a fried-out drug-addled mind, that there really
isn’t much left than other to kill yourself? I know of one 'Goth' that
committed suicide, but far more that contracted HIV and then AIDS. Also,
many had venereal diseases at one point or another. There is little
regard for protecting one's health. If you are perpetually 'depressed',
why care about what happens to you? This culture produces a massive
number of addicts. Along with the self-induced 'cuttings', these acts are
performed from a few impulsive sources: clinical depression, drug induced
from hallucinations, and 'blood-letting' from sucking their own blood, or
someone else sucking their blood (fantasy-based vampirism) during
concocted 'rituals' or combined with sex.

If you decide to do any further research on this culture, ask your
participants about how BORED they are with their own human race, and then
you’ll find the base reasoning of why there are subcultures (Punk, Hippie,
Goth, etc). They have simply tried to start their own (culture) from
whence there is none but cookie-cutter conformity which bores you to death
(debt, kids, poor paying job, college loans, etc) in the long run. Goth:
is essentially a group of bored, potentially depressed people who
gravitate to each other and create a wide variety of dangerous behaviors
and call it a subculture.

Competing interests:
None declared