How can you tell a true goth from a fake one (poseresque)?

Question

I mean if someone dresses goth then how do you know whether their personality is truly goth?

Answer 1

If they're all giggly (prep), yeah, that's a fake.  

Answer 2

If they are wearing a costume and not living a lifestyle, they are a poser. If their mommy drives them to school and their daddy gives them lunch money, they are not goth. If they watch TV and hang out on myspace, they are not goth. Goth is an attitude, wearing the clothes might mean you are goth and it might mean you are copying the look without trying to understand the style.

Answer 3

Ask them about a few bands (try skinny puppy and wolf brigade for a start, google the rest)

If they look at you like you're insane then there's a chance they're a fake. Or they could be like me and just not listen to music.

And Giggling is NOT a reason to suspect someone is a fake goth, just because I call myself a goth it doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself!

Answer 4

Easy answer... You can ask them what music they listen too....

(Goth is a music subculture after all, and has been since it started back in the late 70's/early 80's.  A goth is an avid fan/musician of goth rock, a genre of music that came out of post punk.)

If they cannot list goth bands/songs, then they are a poseur.  Personality has nothing to do with it...  Heh, perky goths are about the most bouncy people you will see... some in poka dots and dayglow yellow and pink... but they are still goths.

Btw Apokalypselater, good choice in bands, I love Siouxsie

Oh and slitwristjuliet... those are not goth bands you listed,  Skinny puppy is industrial (in fact one of the best known industrial bands) and wolfbrigade is a punk band.

Answer 5

  there is no way to tell really, untill you get to know the person.  idk, its not something you can tell just by looking...its kind of like when you see a kid in a shirt for a band, and you ask him his favorite song by that band and he names a song by a completly differant band...like, if a kid is wearing an ac/dc shirt and you ask him "whats your favorite Ac/dc song?" and he says "i wanna rock and roll all night" or something...yeah  i hope that made sense.  you can tell you just gotta ask the right questions

Answer 6

Haha, this question is hilarious. I'm going to answer it seriously though.

There is no way to. Goth is a self imposed label, one that anybody can anoint themselves with. The only way to de-legitimize the claim is to know more about goth culture than that person(The music mostly, but information of Gothic architecture, literature etc. if you are "hardcore" LOL). What this creates is a system of people constantly having to prove their "Gothness" by de-legitimizing the Gothness of people "less Goth" than them. The kicker is that the label is subjective and therefore arbitrary in reality, and that the entire endeavor is quite pathetic.

Juliejul- So one can't be goth without a car and disposable income? Hilarious! This keeps getting better and better. Keep these answers coming!

Answer 7

If they smile too much then they're not truly goth