A note on social stratification....
I used to be what others would call "goth-punk" in high school though I never saw it as that. I had the black trenchcoat, plaid pants, black T-shirts and crazy teazed out hair dyed blue, finished off with the clark kent style thick black rimmed glasses. I also had about 9-10 facial piercings......I never considered myself to be part of any one particular social "clique" because there are so many gray areas between them. When does one start and the other end?
This was the subject of a social sciences final report I did where I tried to break down and classify all the social groups in my high school by various credentials. Punks I broke down by regional origin (Brit Punk, Irish Punk, New York Punk, etc.) Goth by time period (Midieval Goth, 80's Goth, Cyber Goth, etc.) and so on. By the time I was done I had this huge tree diagram drawn out and I managed to break it down to a total of 117 different social structures based off a solid 3 at the bottom who establish a formula of sorts; Popular/Sporty sets trends, Conformists follow the trends, Rebels go against the trends. Ironically though, by going against the trends the Rebels in fact created their own trend as did the Comformists by being followers. I came to the conclusion that classifying any individual into a social group or surtype like goth, metalhead, geek, hippy, greaser, punk, prep or jock is a false philosophical concept. In the end we are all just human beings trying to find our place in the world and express our individuality. In so many cases I found that many branches overlapped one another in places where they previously had split only later rejoined again in wholey different way. (Like how Punk and Goth were both offshoots of the early rock & roll groups only to later re-fuse again to create both "Emo" and the popular "Goth-Punk" categories). Hell, I knew a guy in high school who was a goth-gangsta! LOL
The X-Factor in this study was what I called the "poser dilemma" which is what truly caused so many individual styles to grow into "castes" of there own. Some people are so insecure of their own identity and desperate to fit in that they'll adopt the style and mindset of whatever group seems to appeal to them and is the most based on what is closest to their own individual ideals. This mob mentality is what started to labeling of social groups in the first place, that desperate desire just to fit in and be excepted, rather than braving the waters and just being yourself. Of course if you confronted any of these people, they'd defend their "individuality" even more aggressively than those comfortable with who they really are. And even more ironic still is that the people that branch off and try to make their own unique style inevitably will be mimiced and copied in such a way that they give birth to yet another offshoot social caste, in effect killing their own originallity in the process...
but I digress......(starting to ramble like Vladdie now...😛 no flames! I love ya man! LOL)
........but to answer the initial question I am just entranced by the mystery and dark beauty of gothic girls. It has little to do with wanting to make them laugh because their depressed or moody. I just love their style, too me they are sooooo gorgeous. Tatoos, piercings and unconventional hair colors are a definite turn-on for me....