Smells Like a Goth

I'm working diligently on my outline for Chapter 5: The Reclamation of the Subcultural Self. Nifty chapter title, eh? The basic gist of the chapter focuses on the way in which subculturalists simultaneously negotiate collective and individual subjectivities. In other words, how does someone articulate both group membership and individual identity. The way in which people walk the precarious line of being a member of a group, while still being different enough to be an individual, absolutely fascinates me. Anyway, I've been pouring over hundreds of email messages and message board posts that I've collected over the past five years. I found the following exchange particularly amusing.

Poster 1: If it looks like a goth, thinks like a goth, talks like a goth, smells like a goth, and acts like a goth, it must be a goth.

Poster 2: I really hope we're not going to go in to a long debate about what Goth smells like. ;P I am getting some very unpleasant memories bubbling back up... people who dance all night in clubs, swathed in ass-sweaty vinyl, smoking and drinking constantly never really smell too good by the end of it.

Poster 2 is right--there's definitely a distinct smell that permeates a club toward the end of the evening. I'm struck with the urge to laugh and gag at the same time.