Teen Gothic

I spent most of my life repressing my autistic wants, needs, and ways of self-expression purely because I was told it would make neurotypical people "like me more" and "be less uncomfortable around me." Now that's over. I'm done with that shit.

At goth clubs I don't make facial expressions if I don't want to, stim in public, am not shamed for my "weird" interests, tell people they absolutely cannot touch me, am encouraged to truly feel and express my intense emotions, dress however the hell I want, and truly be myself without judgement. These safe spaces have made me grateful beyond words. Thank you all for being in this lovely community.

I made 2 other autistic goth friends, and we did the most ridiculous full body stimming (that could barely be described as dancing) for 5 hours straight with nothing but encouragement from those around us (: The very idea of stimming through bouncing, stomping, having t-rex hands/loud hands/raptor arms (which are very goth with certain dance moves), and flapping my hands in public even to a mild extent horrified me for years, but look where I am now! Confident and so happy

If there are any other goth autistic people in this sub, please share your stories and experiences (: <3