I live in a large city so the most common subculture is the thug/hip-hopper. Me personally, I'm not sure where I'd place myself since my interests are so varied. That being said I'll just say I'm a loud and proud GEEK.

I don't know if I fit in any subculture. As a pre-teen I used to be a goth but nowadays I only wear black; but casual. I think I'm more of a geek than any other thing.

In my city, "modernitos" (like, pop culture) is the most popular sub culture. And chavs.

Last edited by Epi_lepsia (01-15-2011 03:28:23 PM)

Or as we call it in the USA: Hot Topic.   They do have some neat stuff in that store (I've bought a thing or two there myself!), but all the kids who think that shopping there makes them anti-[you name it] make me laugh. They fail to realize that the clothing companies have them in the palm of their hand.


As for me... I dunno, I'm an anime/video game/sci-fi/fantasy nerd. But I wear it on the inside for the most part. Except for my bedroom which looks like a small anime boutique. ;

Last edited by Imaginary Bad Bug (01-15-2011 07:30:52 PM)

Add me into the (now) casual goth thing, but I dont wear black 1/10th as much as I did in high school.

MissMocha wrote:

What creates a subculture? Because it seems to me that the major tags and labels that are created to "define" people, don't. There's too many variables. Is that because of the general atmosphere here in IRG, or is that because the labels are immutable and being applied to people who, by the very nature of growing and existing are always changing? Or do labels and subcultures themselves change over time? Are they as transmutable as people? And why do clothes seem to go hand in hand with a personal label? Even cultures who claim to be all about personal freedoms -say Rastafarians, or Hippies- tend to adopt a uniform of some kind. Is it because people have a psychological need to be like other people? Or to be able to point to a group of people and say "This is where I belong" and have the visual satisfaction of seeing it confirmed?

These are all really interesting questions!  I'm sure we'd all have different answers to them, and those of us looking in on a subculture from the outside might answer in different ways from those who identify as part of it.

I can only speak from personal experience here, but I'll try to get at some answers.  I'd love to say I don't belong to any subculture, and in some ways that's true: I don't have some Platonic ideal of goth/punk/indie that I'm trying to match as closely as possible, and my political and moral beliefs sometimes don't match my friends'.  Still, there's no denying that I'm a cultural geek.  I came of age during the Internet's first burgeoning; my favorite hobby as a kid was computer programming, and my favorite websites in high school were Fark.com and Something Awful.  I still keep up on the viral YouTube videos and Internet kitsch.  In other words, whether I meant to or not, I do share a subculture with other geeks, simply because I know their cultural touchstones -- I catch the Star Wars and Monty Python quotes, I laugh when people say "Final Fantasy XIV makes Farmville look like World of Warcraft," and as much as my literary tastes have improved over the last decade and a half, I still in my heart of hearts think that Raistlin Majere is a badass.

So what if you followed all that -- you share the same geeky cultural background -- but you don't feel a sense of belonging in the geek community, and you don't define yourself in terms of your geekiness?  Are you a geek?  I guess it's a semantic question.  Is subculture about what you act like, who you hang out with, who you are deep inside, or is it as simple as "I say I'm punk, therefore I'm punk?"

ETA: Moved to GD by request.

I have absolutely no idea what subculture I would fit in. Back in 2007 I did a big Rocky Horror group trip with friends I hung out with in high school and they were naming what they'd label us as. I was labeled as punk which wasn't too off the cuff since I did listen to a ton of punk while in middle and high school. I figure it was probably because I more often than not wear sexy military boots around and have tattoos. I was kind of quasi goth, not going all the way but I do mostly wear dark colors anyway and have a love for gothic metal (Type O Negative being one of my favorite bands ever). I would peg myself in the industrial scene since that's my favorite genre but I certainly don't dress the part since a lot of folks in said scene where really complicated (but neat) outfits.

I just view myself as being a dork really. Love music, videogames, anime, tons of sci-fi, mythological creatures (IE werewolves, REAL vampires (real as in not the bullshit that stems from Twilight, ugh)) and D&D (I swear by 2E but I can handle 3E, not too keen on 4E though). I really don't know where I'd put myself.

I only wear black; but casual. I think I'm more of a geek than any other thing.

Ditto. It's just so much easier to pick what to wear when everything you own is black, dark grey or (very occasionally) white.

In musical taste I'm closest to being a metalhead, but I really don't consider myself a hardcore fan of any band, and I don't bother to follow which ones are famous, and which are too famous - my hardcore metalhead acquaintances get always pissy about liking the "wrong" subgenres or listening to a too mainstream band. Me, I just listen to what I like, which usually means metal, but also classic, movie soundtracks and occasional rock or jazz piece.

It's funny; in some topics I can be quite a snob, but culture, popular or otherwise, isn't one of them. If anything I feel superior to the people who pick a narrow niche and never peek outside it, until the mainstream finds them, at which point it's RUINED FOREVER.

Lightice wrote:

...my hardcore metalhead acquaintances get always pissy about liking the "wrong" subgenres or listening to a too mainstream band. Me, I just listen to what I like, which usually means metal, but also classic, movie soundtracks and occasional rock or jazz piece.

It's funny; in some topics I can be quite a snob, but culture, popular or otherwise, isn't one of them. If anything I feel superior to the people who pick a narrow niche and never peek outside it, until the mainstream finds them, at which point it's RUINED FOREVER.

That sounds familiar. I was a metalhead in high school, and the other metalheads (and me, at first) were very judgmental about anyone listening to anything non-metal. It happens in all subcultures, but metalheads are probably the worst offenders.

Bluesky wrote:

purplepolecat wrote:

Lightice wrote:

...my hardcore metalhead acquaintances get always pissy about liking the "wrong" subgenres or listening to a too mainstream band. Me, I just listen to what I like, which usually means metal, but also classic, movie soundtracks and occasional rock or jazz piece.

It's funny; in some topics I can be quite a snob, but culture, popular or otherwise, isn't one of them. If anything I feel superior to the people who pick a narrow niche and never peek outside it, until the mainstream finds them, at which point it's RUINED FOREVER.

That sounds familiar. I was a metalhead in high school, and the other metalheads (and me, at first) were very judgmental about anyone listening to anything non-metal. It happens in all subcultures, but metalheads are probably the worst offenders.

I see your metalheads and raise you hipsters.

Hipsters think you're doing everything wrong if you aren't doing it wrong ironically.

Interesting thread! I'd say I'm part of the otaku/fujoshi subculture rather than a general geek and the biggest subculture in my area would be Christians. Both have really shaped me.

I like to call myself a literary freak, because writing, reading, mythology, and history are where my geekiness is focused.  I don't really fit into a subculture, but I feel most "at home" with members of the teen Shakespeare troupe from across the metro of the city I live in.  Other than acting, there's a bit of dissonance between what's enjoyed, although we've figured out we love British things.  Actors as a whole, I feel, tend to be a certain subculture more focused on personality and talent than specific interests.

I wear black every day, with every outfit.  I'm not goth, I'm just lazy.  It works.  My younger cousin said she thought I was scene because I wore black "but not in a sad way".  My style is lightyears from the scene kids.

When I was in high school I kind of kept my geek/nerd/anime personality on the down-low, most people knew I at least watched anime or played tabletop games and I was smart, but it wasn’t overly obvious to a lot of people. I dare say I almost was one of the popular kids (not like I was homecoming queen or anything) but everyone was friendly to me and I never really got picked on, I probably could have had more friends if I didn’t try to keep to myself so much. But I never really wanted to be “popular”, I was happy with my four friends who I could act crazy with and no one would give me a strange look.

Now that I’m in university I am officially queen on the geeks, through one of my friends from high school I met a bunch of new people who would fit into the geek/nerd/anime/video-game subculture (a couple gay and lesbian friends too). But I think I’m still pretty versatile about who I can get along with, I like sports, pop music and current movies just like most people do, I just feel like I can be myself more around people who identify with these subcultures.

As for how I dress, I almost never wear black unless it’s to look dressy, I wear pretty much standard clothes and sometimes dress up, even for school. I don’t really think about clothes too much.