I've been a lurker here for awhile, but I think I'll speak out here.  

I'm a goth myself, and my circle of friends is mostly goth.  I'm the only Christian out of them, though.  The others are pagan or atheist.  Some are old and young... many of the older ones have been goth since like the 70s.  The meaning of goth, depending on who you ask.... goth will either mean nothing anymore, or something totally different to everyone, thanks to the evolution of it.

As I understand it, it originally started as a type of counterculture back then, meant to be tied closely to identity and personal expression (often via art of some kind).  But the meaning of the term has sprung up stereotypes that people talk about, and those have done more harm than good.  A lot of that is due to the evolution over the years, despite a resistance to change by some goths.  There seems to be a pervasive desire amongst a lot of the new members to tie goth down to some core ideal or value set.  Many late 80s punk bands adapted the gothic mode of dress to fit their own, and from them goth bands erupted, and from music it is usually where a new subculture of sorts arrives. These were "new wave" goths and adopted a "I hate everybody" approach in the music.  So that is how it is nowdays defined by what it is not, rather than what it is.

The original idea was, you could freely express your emotions without caring what anyone thought.  You could be happy, depressed, whatever.  Not many people went around expressing depression, and goths were pretty much the only people that did/would do that, so they were naturally clumped together as a depressed bunch.  But many people would use that as an excuse to brood about and look for attention, a "boo-hoo I'm depressed and a drug-addict and I hate the world, feel sorry for me" attitude, and whatnot. I think society is rapidly collapsing as people are thinking drugs and gloominess are cool, and black is a colour of mourning, and so people will gravitate to being a goth either thinking that's what makes them goth or they just want attention, and many people today will bury their problems in loose sex and drugs... and so gradually arrived the negative image of goths.

I blame some of it on the arrival of Marilyn Manson, I think. Since him, the goth movement has became almost mainstream and has brought on the "goth-not goth" debate and a more negative image of goths (and also the idea that a Christian goth is nonexistant).

I guess the issue is more of what kind of goth he/she is, or how/why the individual is goth, opposed to just being goth.

Oh, and hi everyone.