I was trying to avoid saying anything about the '9 Goth Girls Date One Nice Guy' video, but I see some of the discourse criticizing 'goth gatekeepers' for simultaneously supporting sex workers while also trashing that video.
Okay, so, goth is a music-based subculture, but it's been associated with more alternative lifestyles, including unconventional jobs such as sex work, often incorporating elements of BDSM and various kinks, but not always. And I think the general consensus within the subculture is that it's totally fine as long as you're being safe and smart about it. It's not a particularly uptight scene.
That said (and this should really go without saying), it is absolutely not a requirement to be goth, nor does it define what goth is. A goth can be a sex worker, but that doesn't make it an inherent part of the subculture - it's just what they do for work, a hobby, or for pleasure, or whatever.
And that's all fine. Human beings have many facets to who they are.
The issue with the '9 Goth Girls Date One Nice Guy' nonsense is that it kind of perpetuates this false notion that all goth women are these weird, homogenized goth barbies, really only made to arouse and cater to men. I feel like that's how a lot of outsiders already perceive goth women - especially men who know nothing about it. AND it puts a lot of women in uncomfortable situations where they're literally just trying to chill out, and men feel entitled to be creeps because they truly think the vision is for them. It is not.
I don't really know anything about the women in the video, and it's not really about singling any specific one of them out, but it really does feed into the bullshit that goth women aren't actual human beings - just walking fucktoys with no discernible personality traits.
And that's the antithesis of what goth is - it's about music, creativity, authenticity, self-expression, and individuality.
And that's what 'goth gatekeepers' are annoyed about.
