Goth subculture and sex work
There is a prevalent conversation happening within the goth community as of late: the issue of online sex workers utilizing the image for profit. This issue has arisen from some creators gaining a larger platform recently for capitalizing on this trendy fetish for goth women; yes, for many people, it is a fetish and not a simple preference. In this post I will touch on the issues in both sides of the argument that I have observed, having been in the community for many years now and having experience in sex work, which gives me a nuanced perspective that both sides often neglect to think about.
On one side of these arguments, we have the supporters: often very young people with not a lot of experience living as a goth. Their points are usually that goth “derives from sex workers” or that being goth means you must be left leaning, which means you must support all sex workers no matter how they profit. The problems with these two statements are as follows: goth does not derive from sex work, first of all. The original image of a goth was not a latex fishnet baddie in a choker and black lipstick; they were teenagers and young adults who felt neglected by society for many different reasons. They wore their grandparent’s funeral clothes, thrifting and sewing their own concoctions of outfits that were dyed black and considered dated for their time. Many goths of the 80s were wearing clothes from the 40s and 50s. This does not mean that the BDSM and sex work inspired fashion came out of nowhere, though- the adults in the gay clubs (the original goth clubs) were wearing drag, and we know that while drag queens do have that root in sex work, it is not the entirety of the fashion or movement! A lot of these looks were meant to disturb, not tantalize; to mock beauty standards and spit it in the face, not to appeal to anyone but themselves. Goths made themselves ugly on purpose, this is the main origin of the fashion. It is also an issue in itself that there are people who claim we should support every sex worker in what they’re doing, because women deserve sexual liberty and to profit from it. I ask of you, is it liberation if opportunists are parroting an image and lingo for mass profit? What does it say that a movement created to subvert expectations of women has now been commodified, turned into a product that can be bought and sold? What does it also say that we are prioritizing the feelings of western, often white women who typically do not need to resort to sex work to survive? (If you are thinking now, well some of us need to do it, use your critical thinking skills to derive from my words that I am making a blanket statement and not speaking on every single sex worker).
We have, on the other hand, the people who completely denounce sex work entirely. This does nothing to help women but to judge those who DO need to resort to sex work, and those who DO simply enjoy this line of work. You are not making any deeper statement on the fetishization of goths other than, it is shameful that you are a sex worker. I have seen some more nuanced takes from this side that I do agree with, such as the fact that many of the big pages we see normalizing this content and image of the subculture are well-off western women who laugh in the faces of those who have suffered from fetishization. They are not sex workers out of necessity or because they are individuals making a living. These women are exploiting a culture they care not for, and profiting off the men that they know have horrid and often violent fantasies about goth women that they wish to act out. The issue was never the sex work itself. There are sick, greedy, opportunistic women who will profit off whatever they can and however they can, just as men do. A woman’s choices and actions do not exist in a vacuum. The main issue with this side of the argument of goths and sex work is that they seldom apply nuance to women who are sex workers. A woman could simply be goth and also be a sex worker. She has the right to do this. It would be more true to “left-leaning” beliefs to support women who are simply doing a job, while remaining critical of any media or content that is pushed onto the internet. This is the key: critical analysis of character and messaging.
It is disturbing to me that many (often barely legal) people in the goth scene have this idea that to be goth is to be sexual, and to be goth means not complaining about being sexualized. No one on this earth is deserving of automatic sexualization for the way they dress, this would be victim-blaming. I have seen, all too many times, the sentiment that goth women should not complain about being fetishized because they are women and everything they do is fetishized and goths are not special. This reads as lack of nuance. We should care when every single type of woman is fetishized BECAUSE it is a pervasive issue across the globe. We SHOULD analyze why specific groups of women are fetishized. Nothing should be passed by, because to dismiss this treatment of goth women as “something you should expect” gives the same messaging of “its not that deep”. It is always that deep. There is always a deeper reasoning behind a specific phenomenon in society. This subculture women are a part of that they went to for comfort and liberation of sexual expectations is being commodified and turned into a product, and you would like for us to dismiss that? This is not the “woke” take people think it is. The issue has always been women being turned into products. One facet of it is not less important than others. You would not tell a blonde woman to suck it up because it is one of the biggest porn categories that exists and that she subjected herself to this treatment on purpose. You would also not dare tell this to any woman of color for being fetishized either. Being born with something can get you fetishized, and choosing a style can get you fetishized, because at the end of the day, society simply hates women. When we criticize those who dislike being fetishized for their self-expression, this is not somehow a non-issue because they can simply “dress normal” because that is only asking to assimilate to avoid harassment. It is akin to those who tell trans people, remain in the closet forever and you won’t be harassed or killed. The moment you ask for someone to dress normal to avoid harassment is the moment you are upholding the very culture you claim you hate, you are asking people to commit spiritual suicide so that you do not have to consider their suffering when they are out as themselves.
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