# My son wants to be a goth **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038 "2006-09-09T03:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038/41 "2006-09-16T00:58:39Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Cheer up. At least he does not (yet) want to be a vandal. (Huns are way cooler, though.) [/QUOTE] (_clap_clap_clap_)Good show, ol’ chap… 😃 When I first read it I did want to ask, Ostro- or Visi- ? And **Arch Trout** , definitely it DOES say “my parents are middle class” – of course, theoretically, all of America between people on welfare and the Bushes is “middle class”… On any given Friday, on the concourse between the Border’s Bookstore and the cineplex at San Juan’s über-Mall, Plaza Las Américas, you find a bunch of “goth” mid-teens. This initially left me doing this: :dubious: 😕 After all, this is a _&^%#@ Caribean island and a @#%^&_ Latin ethnic group we’re talking about. We should be all about passion and heat and scant clothing not covering darkly tanned skin and _ayy carrramba…_😉😛 :rolleyes: and not at all about dankness and darkness and paleness… right? … right? Then I realized… dude, of course! That’s even more radical _here_! 😛 And went back into Border’s for my latte, to fully embrace my tropical oldfartitude… ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038/42 "2006-09-16T13:07:52Z")
How can you not love Goths? Just LOOK at them…they look so damn funny! If my son wanted to get into Goth, I’d be all for it just for the amusement value alone. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038/43 "2006-09-16T13:47:28Z")
[QUOTE=Rushgeekgirl] … She’s into cosplay too. … [/QUOTE] OK, I just looked up “cosplay” in the Wikipedia, and and I am now more firmly convinced than ever that Japan is the answer to the question, “What if we turned a Star Trek convention into a country?” ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038/44 "2006-09-16T13:49:55Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] How can you not love Goths? Just LOOK at them…they look so damn funny! If my son wanted to get into Goth, I’d be all for it just for the amusement value alone. [/QUOTE] I can’t wait until just a couple years from now when we get to the point where a black-clad, bechained kid comes home to find a old picture of another black-clad, bechained kid. “Who’s that?” “Your dad in high school.” ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038/45 "2006-09-17T00:09:20Z")
I think it sounds fine what you’ve done so far. Let him choose his own style, when it comes to temporary measures. I personally would draw the line at piercings and such–I think body modification is way too personal and important to allow a child to choose. Otherwise I don’t care how my (hypothetical) kids choose to dress or do their hair, as long as they’re clean and don’t smell 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038/46 "2006-09-17T06:24:13Z")
I dabbled in Goth when I was in cegep. I was never that far into it (only dealt with the costume, never the music/clubs) and I realize now that I wasn’t really goth, I was just emo _ante litteram._ Well, we can’t have everything. So yes, I probably made my dad sweat a bit (and he was a hippie! Like an actual one! When he met my mom he was in a band! For a living!) but as you can see I turned out relatively sensible. Well, except for running for Parliament and everything, but that’s just because I fell in with the wrong crowd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-wants-to-be-a-goth/372038.md?page=2)