I am not your typical Goth. I don’t have piercings or tattoos (I refuse to pay for pain), I have no mental illnesses and, most shocking of all, I am heterosexual. On the other hand, my birthday is on 22 May, World Goth Day, so maybe it was my destiny.
I find comfort in the gothic world. As a child, horror films never frightened me because I knew they were fictional. What really gave me nightmares were the ‘Kill your speed, not a child’ adverts. I memorised the Bride of Frankenstein film to stop me thinking about those terrifying adverts as I went to sleep.
While I didn’t start wearing black clothes ornamented with skulls until I was 16, I was always drawn to the macabre. I think the first time I found a woman attractive was while looking at photos of vampires from Hammer Horror films.
I’ve known only a handful of Goths who were Satanists and I suspect that was mainly for shock value
I suppose I became a full-blown Goth when I started going to Slimelight, Britain’s oldest Goth club.
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