Goths in the News

It's been a reasonably big week for the Goth community in the news (that is, the subculture and not the East Germanic tribes in the 3rd and 4th centuries). Today's New York Times reported a story about a Goth couple that had pulled an old fashioned heist that was "so large and brazen that even law enforcement officials admit some admiration for it." The interesting thing about this is that apparently the couple, that the article referred to as the "Goth Bonnie and Clyde for their love of fantasy role-playing games and vampire novels" were hailed as heroes, scoring points for the working man.

Here's another story about a Goth couple causing trouble in the UK. The couple, which consisted of one who led the other around with a dog collar and chain, was stopped from boarding a public bus. Civil rights issue, anyone? Now, what's funny about this one is that the idea for the leash was the girl's, who claimed that it was emblematic of their trust. The carrier's story is that she is very "animal like" and "kind of a pet."

I'm all for civil rights. If people want to walk around chaining their girlfriends, that's fine by me. My problem is with their rationalizations. It suggests to me that they were doing nothing more than trying to "push the envelope" within an existing stereotype that was becoming all to trendy. But, maybe that's just me never needing anyone to display their trust to me so blatantly.