Now for some thoughts from the vaults of 2005, when Dave Darcy was pondering whether Goth could be the last subculture to exude overt sexuality, so presenting an alluring aesthetic to advertisers hoping to clinch those hard sells. Six years and an age of porno pop videos on, have his arguments stood up? Read on, and then join in the debate in the comments section below.
About twelve months ago, I started to notice the appearance of cute Gothic girls in TV advertising. This was followed by the appearance of gothic clothing in rap music videos, and magazine advertisements. Thrilled as I was, I was also confused. Was the media finally embracing gothic imagery, or was I just perhaps noticing something which had always been there?
Although the media and advertising worlds have increasingly turned on to, and utilized, fetishistic imagery over a period of years, the gothic element appeared to be new. The gothic movement had always been a subject of ridicule in the UK, being predominantly white, middle class and, at least on the surface, heterosexual, it presents an easy target. It lacks the sympathy vote of persecuted minorities, the street cred of hip hop, and the macho sexuality of rock and roll, matters compounded by the fact that Goth does attract the outsiders. The overweight, the insecure and neurotic, the introvert at the back of the classroom with Anne Rice novels, purple pencils and black nail varnish - you'll find them all in the Goth scene. It's a confusing paradox when you consider that the main ingredients of the Goth movement are sex and death - two great turn ons that when combined, make an irresistible mix.
The Hammer Horror movies of the 1960s and early 1970s, pushed the boundaries of sexuality on celluloid, with racy themes such as bisexuality, and lesbianism. Don't believe me? Check out The Vampire Lovers, Twins of Evil, Lust for a Vampire and Countess Dracula. Through Christopher Lee and the Dracula figure, sexual acts that
amounted essentially to casual rape, become acceptable, sexy, and cool entertainment - just so long as the female victim appeared to have been hypnotised and the penetration was through the neck! Gothic horror has always produced sexy, racy, role models, from Lon Chaney to Vampira to Ingrid Pitt, Christopher Lee, and Elvira.
Elvira
Many people in the fetish movement attribute their predilection to an early exposure to either Morticia Adams, Lily Munster, or Emma Peel. Two out of three are gothic. As the evidence mounted that Madison Soho Avenue was plundering the world of gothic / fetish imagery, another fact became apparent - vampiric fetish females, initially personified by figures such as Persephone, and Lilith Stabs, were springing up faster than The Night of the Living Dead.
Not in your local graveyard, but on the world wide web, and particularly in Yahoo groups. With proportionately higher web access in the United States, most of these women were, obviously, American, but they weren't nerdy and they weren't marginalised. They were cool, they were sexy, and they were confident. They include Mistress Domiana, and Mistress Satan in California, Anastasia in Pennsylvania, Geneveve in Louisiana, Scary Lady Sarah in Chicago, Morgan in Portland Oregon, and many more besides. In the U.K., there is Morrigan Hel, Lydia and Sadie Cakes, and other European countries have their own language versions. You could argue that the internet has plenty of everything, but I challenge you to find any definable sub-culture with as many spokeswomen as the Gothic / fetish movement.
Morticia Addams Morrigan Hel
Why, at this particular point in time? Well, in a world drowning in sportswear, the Gothic movement, with its striking sense of style, is one of the few modern subcultures where clothing and footwear are dysfunctional to the point of discomfort, in direct contrast to the comfort of sportswear, jeans, and casual clothing. While earlier eras saw punk tigresses, rock chicks with teased hair, red lips, leather jackets and denim shorts, and teddy girls in pencil skirts and stilettos, comfort is now king. In the here and now, the Gothic movement is the only visible street style of any consequence with an overt sexuality, and a total rejection of casual dress. As women become confident, self determined and independent, homosexuality from both sexes increases. Traditional relationships of male and female have increasingly broken down.
Personally speaking, I require sexual triggers, and a non-verbal communication of sexuality. Plainly put, I like to see women in short skirts, push-up bras, high heels, elbow length gloves, red lipstick, tight blouses, pencil skirts, latex and leather, thigh high boots, pill box hats, et al. In some ways, perhaps a pastiche of perceived femininity, which I guess some would interpret as sexual availability. Girls in sports wear and trainers just don't do it for me, and, increasingly, the fashion styles of men and women have become almost indistinguishable. The majority of the population from the ages of 10 to 50, look like the contestants at a sports meeting.
AndromedaX by Taya Uddin / EyeXposed Photography
There was a time when no self respecting man would be seen out without a shirt and tie, and his wife would always wear a dress and, frequently, a hat. Now, like the Chinese under chairman Mao, they are an army in polyester tracksuits, generic denim, and athletic footwear. Sex sells much better than an expert in a white coat, or a goofy regional accent, and so in raiding the closet of Gothic / fetish culture, the people who sell you things have pretty much arrived at the last chance saloon.
At the same point, perhaps the biggest phenomenon in sexuality, particularly in the United States, is transgenderism. Transgenderism embraces everything, from casual cross dressing, to the post operative transsexual, but the majority of the transgendered world would not class themselves as homosexual, and even those guys who
want to suck the cock of another man, seem to prefer it when that cock is of a strap on variety, or its owner is in feminine attire. Correction, when its owner is clothed in what would have been perceived as slutty feminine attire 10 to 15 years ago, because today's transvestites and cross dressers don't dress like the women out on the streets. They don't wear sportswear, jeans, or trainers. Rather, they wear dresses, high heels, brassieres, and stockings, because that is their definition of feminine.
Personally, I sometimes wear high heeled, thigh high boots, and some items of transgendered clothing. Namely, I wear the footwear and clothing which I want to see on women, but they no longer, or rarely, wear. Like attracts like perhaps. However you would classify yourself, whether as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, fetish, gothic, none of the above, or just confused and falling over with the stress of it all, remember one thing - keep the sex alive, because without the sex, we would be stuck with just death, and how boring would that be! I have seen the future and it is a gothic transvestite in high heeled boots.
