GOTH FEMININE AND THE POWER DYNAMIC

The Goth feminine has been surrounded by a lot of stereotypes, time and again. We should point out to the fact that we aren’t talking about the ‘woman’ here but the feminine. The feminine is present in all of us (yes, men too) in varying forms. The feminine is to be balanced in an individual with the masculine. Thus, this implies to everyone when we say feminine (the reference is more energetic rather than physical).

The biggest stereotype that the mainstream has to create is that of the function of Goth in the area of pornography. There would be several titles in pornography that would cater to a ‘Goth chic’. That has been somewhat subtly been employed in the mainstream media as a biased opinion of how Goth feminine is this sexualized entity that builds her identity on sexual appeal (if you ever wonder why most of the Goth and the Emo feminine characters are built to be sexualized except maybe a few). That is why we see a lot of representation of casual as well as JGoth in the movies but not a lot of Victorian or pastel Goth.

However, the feminine of our community is a badass. She (using for only referential purpose, for sadly, a lack of a more inclusive term) knows how to piss off those elitist population who know nothing of the culture and tend to do gross assumptions on everyone sides. Let’s break this down. The feminine has always been oppressed by the patriarchal society we live in. she has faced violence, marginalization and forced coercion. There is always a thin line to walk on to be defined as a ‘slut’ or ‘graceful’ for the mainstream woman. Its measured in a few inches of the skirt and the shade of red lipstick she wears.

The community of our feminine knows this very well and she refuses to conform to being neither. How? Well, she definitely isn’t interested in labels but if you do tie her in one or the other, it tends to be towards the slut. She conforms to it, only to defy it. In that, she becomes the hyperfeminine. Now what is that, you ask? Well, the hyperfeminine takes the gender conformity to the extreme that it defies all the binaries. We will make this clear with an example. The heel footwear in the mainstream fashion is seen as a symbol of modesty or disgracefulness. A woman that decides to wear a six inch heel, is subconsciously built to be a sex object (Bedazzled, hello!) and a woman who opts for a four to three inch, is a modern, modest woman.

Have you ever looked at a Goth feminine heel? They are all usually more than six inches. They own their sexuality and that is a big fuck you to the society. She is not afraid of being labeled because she knows that they do not define her. It implies same to her clothes. The sexual appeal dies in the dramatization of the entire scenario and she emerges as the all-powerful hyperfeminine that cannot be put down by men or society. Look at that badassery!