Goth Gatekeeping

There are a number of Goth Authorities who’ve built their online communities on hate. Hate for other Goths, hate for what’s not Goth, blah blah etc. Their fragile brands rely on people believing that they are right, and the rest of the internet/culture is wrong. Regardless of what they say they feel about other kinds of prejudice, this is supremacist b.s. and I’m done with it.

Ultimately, Punk became Post-Punk became Goth, so anti-authoritarianism is in the DNA of the present day scene. Thus when someone claims to be an “authority” within an anti-authoritarianism movement, I can’t help but think they’re just ridiculous.

Instead, I found a new paradigm. Seeing “Goth Culture” as a many hued pit of gloom, which is NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE from any other culture. Any person or people can belong to, or appreciate, more than one kind of culture.

One can be part of an ethnic culture and Goth. One can be BIPOC and Goth. One can like Disney princess showtunes and Goth. You are not less of one for also being the other. And obviously, you can be fiscally responsible and Goth.

Likewise, you don’t have to like all-the-Goth-stuff to be part of the culture. Some people like the music and hate the clothes. Some like the clothes and hate the jewelry. (I for one kinda hate wearing that much makeup, even though I love it on other people.) It’s like the personal finance parts of this site – take what you think you can use, and see how it works out.

Goth culture is much like a dusty old attic. Things come in, but they don’t really leave. I could wear an old 90s velour dress to a goth club tonight and be praised for my appreciation of the vintage. New music forms develop from the old, which leads to new dancing styles, but that doesn’t stop folks from doing the flowy-sleeves-stompy-boots dances of old. Obviously this has it’s downside (ie cringey Nazi dogwhistles), but I hope that with a more inclusive view of the scene we can phase out some of the actually toxic elements.

If this paradigm of inclusion is somehow threatening to you as a person or brand, go sit in the corner with the other supremacists, pls. Ya’ll have so much to talk about, have fun with that.

Personal Finance Gatekeeping

It is an unfortunate truth in media that “Nothing sells like success.” Therefore, the most successful looking personal finance bloggers tend to be cis-het white men who “started out” already having a six figure salary, owning property, etc. They then had the brilliant idea to stop buying a new iPhone every six months, along with other practical cash-saving techniques, and two years later their net worth is $1M. Now they make extra cash when people who need food-stamps to survive come look at their blog for help.

It’s not to say that their advice isn’t useful, but more often than not it only goes so far for people who are struggling. Like “authorities” on finance who tell people to stop buying expensive lattes everyday, as if we can afford to do that in the first place. It’s Classism to the core, which overlaps and intersects with all the other ‘isms and ‘phobias.

There are very few working-class personal finance blogs. Because for not becoming a millionaire in 2 years, they get less attention and traffic, and thus less advertising revenue or paid writing gigs on other sites. And if a side-hustle that was supposed to make extra cash isn’t, then that blogger will most likely have to abandon that job for one that does.

Full disclosure – I started out middle class with some generational wealth to fall back on. So as this project continues, if I can make some add revenue, I’m hoping to add more writers to this site for guest posts that broaden our combined experiences and focus. Both class-wise and in other topics I’m less familiar with.