My apologies for making another topic when I didn't contribute to my last one. Anyway, I thought it would be good if those of us here who wouldn't consider themselves to be goth stated why they don't believe themselves to be goth. It would be appreciated if people did not question other's beliefs about what it is to be goth, as goth is merely a concept, with no set-in-stone definition. It's all subjective.

Just to break the ice, I suppose I could start things off this time. I wouldn't consider myself to be goth, even if I consider myself to be quite similar to goths. I tend to be a more thoughtful kinda person, and like more macabre literature (fo instance, I'm studying The Bloody Chamber at college currently, and enjoying it. However, poetry is a bit of a no-no, I find it hard to grasp), like gothic bands, love the appearance and so forth, but my thinking falls short in one key area; I'm too much of a whore to peer pressure. I'm too scared of being different from others, I fear isolation and rejection more than anything in the world so in social situations I'll just retreat into my shell, and regardless of what I want, with my appearance or actions I'll always take the more conservative approach.

Now, for those who aren't goth here, what makes you not fit the label (or your interpretation of it?)

We have had this discussion so many times around here, I could travel the path in my sleep. Inevitably, a thread like this leads to a big mess of an argument over what goth "really" is, an argument for or against the existence of a "gothic state of mind," and a huge collection of mini-whinge-fests about "nobody understands my soul" which causes the staff members to have spend half the day issuing warnings to people and cleaning up messes just to make the thread barely tolerable. So, let's just not, okay?