GOTH BIGOTRY!! Sorta...
EL principal sends 'Goths' home:

Three Edward Little High School students complained of unfair treatment Monday when they were sent home from school because they were wearing Gothic-style makeup...

It's no more distracting than kids who walk around with bright underwear and their pants halfway down their legs...

I would rather she be wearing makeup and dressing the way she wants than going out or doing drugs and getting into things I don't want her getting into...


This event kind of irritated me. Having been a little gothling at one time or another, I hated when people got all on my case about it -- assumed I was a Satanist and did drugs (my mother accused me of both when I started wearing all -- or mostly -- black in high school. In a bit of irony, the only time I've done drugs in my life is when I went through my College Preppy, phase -- ie, the only time in my life that I didn't dress "goth.")

Of course, when you are a teenager, dressing "goth" is a bit of a rebellious thing. There was a certain thrill with dressing in a manner that was not typically accepted, but that doesn't mean I thrived on the unnecessarily harsh reactions too it. Standing out from the norm, making people a little uncomfortable was good thing, but such a thing never warrants abusive, bigoted and violent reaction that can sometimes result.

I've always enjoyed dressing dark, but I never acted in a manner that truly matched my outward expression. I prefer to wear my black on the outside, not on the inside.

Their "gothic" make-up is just about as basic and stereotypical as you can get. But it's hardly offensive or distracting. As one kid indicates in the article, there is FAR more distracting stuff going on in high school. Do you think people are more often distracted by boy wearing eyeliner, or the chick with a whale tail peeking up over her uber-low-rise jeans.

A little eyeliner is not going to lead to the next Columbine. Let the kids have their stereotypically "goth" make-up.

I wish I could hand those kids a Flatline flyer... :\


hat tip to milkgonebad