Why does this skull have ears? That concerns me more than the blood.

I know that you are probably thinking that this has always been an issue, and you are right because to some degree it has. However, in the last few years in particular, I have noticed more and more concerning images that have been used as an artificial advertisement for the subculture; everything from obvious fake tits to an overuse of Facetune and Photoshop. The goth subculture wasn’t created to fit into the mianstream, it went against what the mainstream thought was beautiful. This change is really concerning and in fact really pisses me off.

First off, let me start this off by saying that you can do whatever the hell you want to do with your body because that is your choice. If you are going to try to start a career as being a model in the goth subculture though you have a resposibilty to present a realistic image of somebody actually in the subculture. Fake tits are normal in the mainstream print modeling world, You know, the half naked photos of chicks with big breasts next to cars and motorcycles. Since that is the case why the hell would anybody think that such an image would be okay to promote the goth subculture? It’s further playing into the ‘big tiddy goth girlfiend’ stereotype that really harms goth women.

An even more disturbing trend than fake body parts are the women who model for dark fashion brands who have their features totally changed with the obvious heavy use of Facetune and Photoshop. Its gotten to the point that you have to look really closely at the photos to see if they are in fact human, rather than a mannequin. Others say that those models have a right to present their aesthetic in any way that they please. If they were just doing art based photo shoots I could agree with that, but they are presenting these fake images of themselves on dark fashion sites that are largely looked at by younger people. These teens and kids naively look at these photos and think that if they wear the same clothes and try to look as pale as possible that they will look like the models. The fact is that they will never naturally look like them.

Last, but not least, the majority of models who appear on the dark clothing sites are young, white, thin and with straight hair. Just like mainstream society you are considered more pretty if you look as non ethnic as possible. As a white woman with naturally curly hair I can’t tell you the number of times that I have been asked by hairdressers if I want my hair straightened the moment I sit down in their chair. The only hairdresser that hasn’t done this is the one I go to now and I love her to pieces. This makes teens with curly hair and darker skin think that they can’t be goth, and there are some racist bitches who state that you have to be white to be goth. The original goth subculture in the 80’s had people of colour and all sorts of people with curly hair, so why the hell should mainstream beauty stereotypes be accepted into the subculture?

When it comes down to it these dark fashion sites, and the models themselves, have a responsibility that they should be taking way more seriously. Some dark fashion sites have been using more people of colour as models for their clothes within the last year due to the barrage of complaints that people rightfully threw their way. This is encouraging, but those goth mannikins still seem to be popular. There should be some sort of industry wide limit when it comes to the use of Facetune and Photoshop. Finally, it seems that more dark fashion companies are now selling plus sized clothing and featuring plus sized models than they were a few years back.

When enough people complain it has been proven that the perpetrators of such crap actually sometimes listen. I’m 100% certain that some of the dark fashion sites are not making very much money right now since many people are now unemployed. Their target audience of teens are no longer getting large allowances to spend on their clothes from their parents. Meaning that all of these issues might naturally sort themselves out really soon.