The Goth Challenge, day 3

3: When did you come out of the goth closet

I was in 6th grade when I discovered goth, and even before then, one of my favorite colors to wear was black and grey.  From 6th grade to about 10th, I was slowly gaining a small, but proud closet, full of basic black clothing.  When I was in 10th grade, I started to go into Hottopic, and fell in love with their accessories.  The clothes themselves were pretty expensive, so I spent a lot of my money on chokers, gloves, earrings, etc...  That is about when I came out of the goth closet.  

At first, I was sure that it didn't come to much of a surprise.  The signs were pretty much there, like obnoxiously, in a loud and proud way.  My family was mostly accepting (if someone wasn't, then they didn't say anything to me), except for my mother, at first.  She was like a lot of non goth parents, who believed the goth negative stereotypes, and was worried that I would fall into that.  I didn't.  However, I still strived to show her that I was still me, and I wasn't going to do something, just because everyone else was doing it.  

I remember she told me that she didn't want me to look like a freak, or get picked on for looking like one.  I pretty much told her it was too late for that, and if I don't get picked on for being goth, it'll be for something else.  That was how my high school was, if you had something slightly different about you, you got called out on it, eventhough it's something that you can't change, or something that is you.

Luckily, after I graduated and started attending college, my mother lightened up to the point where now she's looking at black wedding dresses for me.  No, I'm not getting married, but somewhere down the line, probably.  

Now that I'm fully out of the goth closet, it feels good to express myself, and to know that eventhough at first it was rocky for acceptance with family, now I have support with my lifestyle choice.