This is probably one of the reasons my nieces and nephews label me the 'cool' aunt. I treat them like people with important opinions/views of their own.

That sounds familiar...

With me, I had ALL these gothic tendencies since I was 5 but I always denied the fact that I was Goth. (That was around the tme when I believed the age-old stereotype that Goth = Satanist) You could have called me a 'not-a-goth' at that time. The evidence just kept piling and piling but I was always like "So? Doesn't mean I'm goth..." I tried pulling myself into the mainstream to try and 'escape' but it didn't work. I started accepting the darker things of me when I was 10 almost 11 but I STILL refused to be Goth. Then at 13, I just...couldn't deny myself any longer and that's how I became Gothic!

I really can't say at what age I became goth...I just kinda evolved into it. I mean, I'm a child of the 80's...that is when I was in middle school and high school. I wasn't into the "bubblegum pop" crap. Wasn't really into R&B, country, etc. I was into what they considered new wave and punk...and dressed more punk than anything. Black was just my thing...blacks, purples, reds...not so much the neon. Bauhaus, Siouxsie, the Cure, Joy Division, Fields of the Nephilium, Psychedelic Furs, Depeche Mode, the Misfits, etc. were all my regular listening pleasures...and it seemed punk for the most part evolved into goth. Bad thing was, I went to a little hick school in Texas, so I was looked at very strangely by all...you can't imagine my joy when the new guy showed up dressed all in black, torn band shirts, long black trench coat, and black leather boots. I thought he was the hottest guy in school...forget all those jocks...LOL. We became pretty good friends, being that we were interested in the same scene.

My Uncle Sean was like that .... too bad he passed a few years back. Only 37 too.

Gee I wonder why...

GothicBfly: Aw, at least you got a friend! Yeah, getting strange looks in middle school isn't fun. *shudders*

I got interested in goth fashion when I was 12, and now I'm 14, and more into it (and the music, poetry, etc...) than ever! Goth has saved me from being pushed around, and found me many friends. But I only really found how much I love goth when I read "Gothic Charm School" by Jillian Venters. That book has become my bible, and it helped me become confident that goth is not a bad thing at all.

Haha, I remember Gothic Charm School! Jillian Venters is a cool lady.

hmm... i would say about 13 1/2. I looked toward Jillian Venters (sorry if I spelt that wrong) to get started and Ive been lovin it ever since

I'm 21, and I think I'm finding myself more lately, as before the past year, I never really had a "style". I've always had much darker interests than people I know but didn't think anything of it until I reached my twenties. Ha ha...I may be on to something here.

"Things that make you go hmmm..."

Oh, I started early, but it really began to show when I was 11. I bought this nice black dress, and starting playing around with black eyeshadow. But I have always liked the music.

I'm 20 years old now. My family is starting to realise that it might not just be phase

I myself have just started the path to gothdom and i am 13 so yeah. i started with the music and now going for the cloths.

I was 16 when I became Gothic. I got married at 20 I stopped dressing goth etc. Never did I ever stop listing to the music never!! I could kick myself for stopping the creative side of mysel f. I rediscovered myself and started back being me at 2 Now I am 23

There wasn't really one age for me. But if I had to give it an age I would say about 18. That was a major year for change with me. I jokingly call it my coming out year; I came out as gay, pagan, and goth all in that one year. My parents are very religious and don't like all this change. The funniest part for me is when I visit and they ask if I have grown up yet, or when they blame my sexual orientation on the other two.

I didn't dress in anything goth until my twenties, mostly because we were very very poor and I had no control over what I was wearing.

BUT.

I was always a sombre, dark, angry, introverted child that enjoyed the company of books, bugs and cats more than people. I liked to find creepy things and quiet dark places. I kept spiders and snails and snakes as pets until my mother would find them and take them away. My grandmother said I was "fae" or an "old soul". My family thought I was strange. I liked it that way. I had a black cat until I moved out and found out I was deathly allergic to cats. My mother enjoyed telling me I had "no sense of ha ha" because I could not stand the inane humour they appreciated. The Goblin King from Labyrinth was my FAVOURITE thing ever. Rock on David Bowie. I devoured Poe and Christina Rosetti and other classical goth poets and authors. The poem "Gothic Lullaby" I posted I wrote when I was... 17? I spent a good portion of my 20's being almost entirely nocturnal. After my father died suddenly in my mid 20's I escaped into he internet to roleplay goth furry stuff and didn't emerge for at least a year.

I have always been moved by music, and since I was sad and angry the music of the goth scene fed me. I have had many pieces of my goth music for a very long time. Since my young teens. I met my now husband when I was 29 and dove fully into the "scene" and started dressing to fit the look. I worked as a hairdresser for most of that time, so I have always been blessed with cool hair and an accepting workplace. I am 34 now. I sometimes feel silly because I really have no friends other than my husband that are "Goth" and I get made fun of. Yes, even at 34 that sometimes stings. I am pretty sick of being told to "act my age" but to be honest I am caring less and less as the years pass. Happy that this place is starting to feel a bit like... home?