Teen Gothic

I(22F) have been BIG TIME into darkly inclined stuff and horror movies and alternative stuff in general ever since I was very very young and I have recently gotten into goth music and im finally dressing the way that I want since I have a job with my own money saved up. Now also keep in mind, I don't have my license yet bc I've been anxious about driving but my moms helping me get used to it. One morning I overheard my dad say some shit along the lines of "Shes obviously mentally 15 with the way she dresses and sets her room up you just gotta wait for her to grow up a little" like somehow my style makes me not a "mental adult". Do any other 20+ alt people have to deal with infantalizing mindsets like this?

[decided to post this on here too]

For starters, I’ve dealt with stares and name-calling for the majority of my life due to the way I dress and present myself. I’ve had photos taken of me with nasty captions and people asking me to show them my wrist, and for the most part I’m use to it, but lately it’s seem to have gotten worse with people yelling it out loud in public for everyone to hear.

I was at the state fair and had a group of guys run up to me in line asking me if I made porn, telling me they liked my costume (“oh wait.. thats just how you look”) and laughing obnoxiously loud while people just looked away. It was really uncomfortable and anytime I ran into them again they’d just KEEP going. That same week me and my friends were harassed and followed in public again, getting called the “wrist cutters” “suicide squad” “hookers” followed by them asking for our socials over and over again.

So for those who also deal with this or have had similar experiences, how do you deal with it? Any advice is much appreciated.

I'm currently a junior in high school with a very eccentric batty style and I've noticed much more recently how many people are laughing at me and making fun of me. It makes me want to quit being goth, almost.

How do you deal with being weird and being made fun of?

So I (20f) live in one of the biggest cities in Iowa (which isn't even that big becauseits Iowa). I have a few "alt" friends and I take with me most of the time when I go out because theres power in numbers. (Any "alt" person in iowa plz hmu let's be friends) I went to see Sonic 2 just recently and I brought one "basic" looking friend with me because I really hate going anywhere looking interesting in Iowa. Anyway just going into the theater some guy approached me and told me I'm so hot and my fishnets makes him want to pass me around and f*ck me. I felt so uncomfortable I literally went and hid in the bathroom because I was worried he would follow me into the theater or wait for me if he knew which auditorium I was in. Thankfully nothing happened.

After the movie I went to Perkins and a group of like 15 teenage boys came in and sat near my table. I over heard a lot of what they were saying and it was very mean/suggestive. They kept moving so they could take pictures of me and saying they had to go to the bathroom so they could walk by me and "get a better view." Yelled nasty things to me on my way out.

I've looked like this forever so I'm pretty used to being stared at, called funny things, parents hiding their kids, etc. I almost never left the house for anything but work for like 2 years for quarantine. I'm going out a little bit more lately and it feels like the way people react has gotten worse since returning and I dont even know what to do at this point because this is a regular occurrence now and its affecting me.