I'm not sure if it's just common in the area where I live, but I've noticed that the word "goth" seems to have extremely negative connotations in the scene. Here in Knoxville, there's a forum called knoxgothic.com, but ask anyone on the website and they're quick to denounce any connections. They say, "Oh, I like the music and I wear a lot of black and I like the culture in general, but I'm not goth." Another girl on the site said, "I don't think anybody here is stupid enough to actually consider themselves goth."

I've noticed it is becoming more and more common for people to deny their connections to the gothic subculture. Even people I know who dress in head-to-toe black every day, wear corsets, dye their hair black and listen exclusively to bands like Bauhaus all vehemently deny that they're goth. I seem to be one of the only people here in my town who openly admits to being a goth.

Most say that they deny it because they don't like "labels." I don't think it's limiting at all to admit to being part of a group. It would be like saying that because I have my own unique style of bellydancing, I can't call myself a bellydancer. Categorizing something doesn't strip it of its essential qualities. Labelling people doesn't take away the things that make them unique. I think it's foolish to think that everyone is so different and so special that everybody defies basic categorization. There are millions of people in this world. Some of them are goth. Very few of them seem to be able to own up to that fact.

Has anybody else noticed this? It seems like "goth" has become a taboo word, even to those who very obviously fit the bill. I think it would be foolish of me to say I wasn't goth, considering I listen to gothic music, I dress in head-to-toe black every day, I wear victorian-inspired garb including corsets, I wear dark makeup, my house is decorated like a crypt, and I'm naturally drawn to the darker side of life. I think that makes me pretty fucking goth, and I think others who are similar are pretty fucking goth, too.