Ritual Style
and
Gender Performance

For many who identify as goth, there is a ritual element to presentation in many different settings, which often begins long before one actually gets dressed. These rituals are varied, and on the whole, there has not been strong ethnographic research on these groups. Ethnographic research that does exist notes that the rituals and customs shared by those who identify as goth create a strong sense of belonging and community (Bush, 2016).

 Gender is often expressed as fluid within goth spaces, leaning towards femme identities but with a wide spectrum of performances.

~Lived Experience/ Ritual & Gender:

~ I have always maintained a very hyper-feminine aesthetic, and it wasn’t until I spent time within goth communities that I realized that this was coding me as Queer. I definitely have ritual methods, both daily and when I go out, that include makeup, how I get dressed, as well as what music I listen to.

~M

~ As a cisgendered woman, I enjoy the opportunity to both play up or play down how my gender presents. The first time I did drag, it was in a gothic setting; I still perform drag, which is also definitely a ritual.

~C

~ I presented very femme when I first entered the goth scene, but as a transman it was very important to me to be able to play with my masculinity as well, and my goth community was incredibly supportive of these efforts. I know that within my personal transgender community, we have a lot of clothing exchanges to help make sure everyone has gender affirming clothing, and having that as part of both my support network and personal style has continued to be important to me. I think those clothing exchanges and methods of support can be viewed as a ritual.

~D

~ I had never had a community that included transgender people until I joined the goth community, and those friendships helped me in my own transition to a non-binary identity. I’ve never thought about my goth identity as being part of ritual, but there are rituals I associate with my goth identity, which often includes when and where I present.

~A

~ In addition to the rituals I have around how I dress and decorate my home, I am also an occultist. As someone who was never part of mainstream culture, I often don’t relate to my peers, but do relate to fellow goths, so even though we don’t have a shared ideology we still share values and concerns that I don’t share with most other people. Goth aesthetics, for me, have always leaned more soft and feminine, and has helped me understand my genderfluid identity.

~S