Of course there are happy goths. I’m a happy goth. When you have the freedom to express yourself the way you choose, having your outsides match your insides and being an authentic person. Having people that love and accept you appreciate who you are is a great reason to smile. it’s the feelings of lonliness alienation and awkwardness that keep that angst riddled look of perpetual pain plastered to their faces, not the things that are a matter of taste(i.e. music art fashion) and perspective.
This picture is adorable. Seriously, you all look so happy and are so plainly comfortable with yourself and with each other. WHat a happy-looking bunch of siblings!!
Just wanted to pitch in with the fact that, no, not everyone ‘grows out of it’.
Sure there are plenty of teens who go through a rebellious phase just to shock their family or because they want attention. But please don’t assume that all Goths are just temporary products who will leave it behind in a few years and not look back.
I started dressing Goth when I was about 15, and I’ve never outgrown it. I’m 28 and married now, and I still have just as many piercings, makeup, and black clothing as I did when I was younger. I take pride in the fact that I was not just following a trend for the sake of it, but this was truly who I am and it’s never going to change.
I’m (still) gothy, my sister had the rainbow shirts and cropped hair going on, and my brother has dark hair and wears glasses. Too bad I don’t have a picture of the three of us together. So strange and amusing to see the same thing going on..
Okay, I’ve been looking at this picture for a good minute now, and I still can’t get over how freaking cute the ‘goth’ is! Now where I did I put “Cutest Goth Ever” award?
Seriously, though, I’m 35, married, mother of two, and I have several facial piercings and lots of tattoos. With my syle of dress I look like a kid hanging out at a show watching a band.
I’m also working on my Master’s in neuropsych.
For some, dressing this way is simply a period of experimentation during the process in which adolescents are trying to find an identity. Some decide that this IS their identity.
Some people actually wear what they like and not because they are trying to draw attention.
I really like this photo. The goth girl and her siblings look genuinely happy. Its a snapshop of who those people are at that moment, and it’s beautiful.
I love this picture because all of the kids actually look pretty happy. Even Goth girl has a little smile. It’s sweet and I think it shows a nice acceptance of who she is on the parents part.
I am that different sibling. My siblings and I get a long fine. My sister says it best. “We were all made by the same tailors, you were just cut from a different bolt of cloth.” :0)
Goth girl has got to be the middle child. This could have been a picture of me and my sister and brother, had my parents let me be me…. but then, I look like this is most pics No smiling.
This is my photo and I promise it’s real! My mom wanted us to take a group portrait because it was promo at the local supermarket for one free picture. Of course they send back others to get you to buy more, which my mom did because she couldn’t stand the idea of returning the extras of us to be shredded!
How old is the photo? You guys look very sweet. I tried to get my 16 year old to dye his hair that same color a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t talk him into it!
I wasnt saying it was photo shopped as fake, just that it looks like it was retouched but the photographer. The trasparent part of goth girl. So which one are you?
I actually love this picture. It’s really sweet I think. And older sis has that great “If you squirts don’t stop poking me” nearly escaping grin. I’ve had that look with my little sister just before we burst into laughter… ticking of mom/photographer. LOL
OH and I LOVE her hair! But hey, what do I know… I’m still rocking an afro in 2009. LOL
I say Goth on, with your bad self! And hurray for parents that can raise three kids that look happy.
I love this picture! I think mom and Goth girl had an agreement: you can dress how you want as long as you smile. I wish my parents had been as accepting of me.
OMG my mother has a photo eerily similar to this one hanging in her home, tragically I was the “happy goth” in that one. She let me dress however I wanted – but documented every fad with photographs she proudly displays all over her home. My family will never let me live it down.
Holding out on us Alice? submit your pictures! we wanna see then now. Tell you what I’ll go see if I can find the ones were me and my sister went through a “wearing turkey nets” for hats phase.
Well, it would be a good opportunity to get them off her walls…but it wouldn’t be the first time I tried, she’s probably on to me by now. But if I do, it will definitely have to be the one with the choker (much like above), blue and purple striped hair and a shade of foundation my mother dubbed ‘rigor mortis’…..Oh the shame.
Yeah i agree. Im not one to call photoshop often. But I think (depending on how old this pic is of course) that maybe it was some retouching that didnt go well.
Goth girl is standing at an angle with her sister’s shoulder against her stomach. It’s not PS, I’ve been in photos with similar positioning (we had a big family and they always made us squeeze in).
That was my thought, too! The contrast between “normal” and “goth” is funny (and it’s a cute sibling shot in general), but where the photog had her put her hand is awkward!
Why does everyone have to spoil the fun by saying the photos are fake…..as if there are no Awkward people out there so they have to make this stuff up…my moneys on real!
There are so many things to like about this picture! I love the way everyone looks so happy and comfortable with each other. You know the parents are supportive of the kids if they look so at ease with themselves. Overall, I find the picture endearing, not awkward. And I agree – she is the happiest goth I’ve ever seen!
I so totally agree. I would be proud of all three of these kids if they were mine and how sweet is it that they all agreed to take this pic for their parents.
I love the fact that the goth chick would pose for a picture with her siblings and (sorta) smile. And I agree with Lauren. They do look like sweet kids. Great awkard picture.
The Goth sister is kind of shocking at first, but, I agree it’s not a bad sibling photo. Then I saw goth girl’s hand a little awkwardly placed on sister’s chest region…
I am a mom and a *gulp* Goth. In my family pictures I never tried to be anything other than I (still) am. Today I treasure the photos with my family, especially my departed Grandmother. They were never embarrassed to be in a photo with me, even our FIVE generation family photo.
At least it looks like she gets along with her family and is accepted however she chooses to dress.
/soapbox
Thank you Marusya for shedding a positive light on the subject.
My family photos are similar, considering I am goth, female, and 16. However, I do not wear black lipstick and never will.
What most people do not realize is how harmless and not freakish goth is.
Goth is based on the music, and many deathrock and batcave bands sound eerily mainstream.
I urge anyone who is uncertain about goth to listen to the band “Specimen”. They are one of the most popular goth bands and many people are surprised at how “normal” they are.
I was always one of the “freaks”. My mother HATED my Converse. In the last couple of years (after I had my son) they became a joke and something she loved.
Shortly before her death my husband, 17 month old son and I had a portrait made for her where we’re all wearing black Converse. She loved it!
My Grandma had been a flapper in the 20s, wore red high heels & blue nail polish in an era when people thought you’d go to hell for it, and loved fun and partying. even in her 70s she still wore hot pink & turquoise, false eyelashes, & big, gaudy jewelry. she loved the way i looked, she thought it was great, crazy thrift store clothes, wacky colored hair, mohawks, whatever- it was all great to her. i think it was in my mid-late 30s that my parents finally realized i was not going through a “phase”. X-D
I’m 30 and my mom has yet to realize I’m not going through a “phase”. I still dye my hair pink, finally got my labret pierced (Xmas pres. from hubby, after wanting it for several years – already have a few other facial piercings) and wear all kinds of crazy stuff (yes, I still shop at Hot Topic too. Yet some people in my family still choose to try to use the “backhanded compliment” method to change me into their idea of whom/what I should be.
Funnily enough, I’m very conservative politically and morally, am a homeschool mom of (now) 6, and thankfully I’m surrounded by people here in my new home state who love and accept me for who/what I am, no strings or judgement attached.
It’s always awkward when one of the kids just won’t fit in with their siblings. For weeks now, her parents have been trying to convince her NOT to dye her hair red before the photo shoot and to stop wearing those blasted rainbow shirts.
That’s probably the best way for parents to respond to the rebellious teenage years. Take lots of pictures to embarrass them with after they grow out of it.
**THIS PHOTO IS NOT PHOTOSHOPPED**
As awkward as I feel saying this, and as much as I want to kill my sister
for posting this, I am the ‘goth girl’ in the picture and it is real.
On a funny note, the photographer at Safeway asked before she took the
photo: “Does your mom know you look like this today?”
You are so awesome “Girl in the photo”. Seriously. I love that you not only had the courage to be who you were back then and that you were sweet enough to pose with your siblings for a picture for your parents but that you were also courageous enough to come on here and respond.
You look adorable, I’m always happy to see other Goth kid pics- I have a few myself.
It’s really awesome that (I assume) your parents just let you be you Mine were really cool about it. My Mom actually dyed my hair blue when I was 14 (I’m in my 30′s now).
And, no,we don’t all “grow out of it”, for the rest of you. I may have altered it over the years, even toned it down, but I’m still me. It’s more like I grew with it.
Can we all please stop acting like anyone that’s ever done anything fun, kooky, or odd should be ashamed? It’s really rude, and I like to come here because the pics are fun and the comments aren’t (usually) mean-spirited.
Yes, but most do grow out of thinking that dressing purposely to draw attention to themselves (which they then declare — loudly — that they do not want) is the way to express one’s individuality.
Amen, butcherbaby. My daughter had an appearance all through high school much like Girl in the photo. Had hair every color in the rainbow, stretched her earlobes, had crazy eyliner complete with flowers, stars, or whatever. And she most decidedly did not care what anyone else thought, even though we lived in a very small town in Nebraska. Today, she is a well adjusted mother of three, makes good use of her creativity by doing hair for a living, and no – STILL does not care what anyone else thinks. And I adore her for her individuality.
***Any comments that are offensive to the point of being viciously personal, racist, homophobic, exceedingly profane, violent or too graphic in nature won't be posted. We want to keep this site a friendly place to be awkward. Thanks!***
afp
Is that McLovin?
I suddenly feel like a bowl of Count Chocula.
Hahaha! Goth alert!
You guys just don’t understand how hard it is growing up in the suburbs. LOL!
Anybody else thinks she looks like she was in the Broadway revival of Cats??
this is a nice picture, not awkward at all
Of course there are happy goths. I’m a happy goth. When you have the freedom to express yourself the way you choose, having your outsides match your insides and being an authentic person. Having people that love and accept you appreciate who you are is a great reason to smile. it’s the feelings of lonliness alienation and awkwardness that keep that angst riddled look of perpetual pain plastered to their faces, not the things that are a matter of taste(i.e. music art fashion) and perspective.
This picture is adorable. Seriously, you all look so happy and are so plainly comfortable with yourself and with each other. WHat a happy-looking bunch of siblings!!
Just wanted to pitch in with the fact that, no, not everyone ‘grows out of it’.
Sure there are plenty of teens who go through a rebellious phase just to shock their family or because they want attention. But please don’t assume that all Goths are just temporary products who will leave it behind in a few years and not look back.
I started dressing Goth when I was about 15, and I’ve never outgrown it. I’m 28 and married now, and I still have just as many piercings, makeup, and black clothing as I did when I was younger.
I take pride in the fact that I was not just following a trend for the sake of it, but this was truly who I am and it’s never going to change.
Hahahahaha This could be me and my family
I’m (still) gothy, my sister had the rainbow shirts and cropped hair going on, and my brother has dark hair and wears glasses. Too bad I don’t have a picture of the three of us together. So strange and amusing to see the same thing going on..
Okay, I’ve been looking at this picture for a good minute now, and I still can’t get over how freaking cute the ‘goth’ is! Now where I did I put “Cutest Goth Ever” award?
One of this things is not like the other…
Goths are people, too.
Seriously, though, I’m 35, married, mother of two, and I have several facial piercings and lots of tattoos. With my syle of dress I look like a kid hanging out at a show watching a band.
I’m also working on my Master’s in neuropsych.
For some, dressing this way is simply a period of experimentation during the process in which adolescents are trying to find an identity. Some decide that this IS their identity.
Some people actually wear what they like and not because they are trying to draw attention.
aww this is so cute
I love that the lip color matches the eye shadow color!
I love how the hair blends into the background.
I really like this photo. The goth girl and her siblings look genuinely happy. Its a snapshop of who those people are at that moment, and it’s beautiful.
I love this picture because all of the kids actually look pretty happy. Even Goth girl has a little smile. It’s sweet and I think it shows a nice acceptance of who she is on the parents part.
I am that different sibling. My siblings and I get a long fine. My sister says it best. “We were all made by the same tailors, you were just cut from a different bolt of cloth.” :0)
Awwww, that’s cute!
I totally love that! Mind if I use it?
One of these things is not like the other…
Goth girl has got to be the middle child. This could have been a picture of me and my sister and brother, had my parents let me be me…. but then, I look like this is most pics
No smiling.
One of these thing is not like the other…
This is my photo and I promise it’s real! My mom wanted us to take a group portrait because it was promo at the local supermarket for one free picture. Of course they send back others to get you to buy more, which my mom did because she couldn’t stand the idea of returning the extras of us to be shredded!
How old is the photo? You guys look very sweet. I tried to get my 16 year old to dye his hair that same color a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t talk him into it!
I wasnt saying it was photo shopped as fake, just that it looks like it was retouched but the photographer. The trasparent part of goth girl. So which one are you?
the photo isnt too old, i think 2002/2003 and i am the one in the middle.
What a cute smile you have
I actually love this picture. It’s really sweet I think. And older sis has that great “If you squirts don’t stop poking me” nearly escaping grin. I’ve had that look with my little sister just before we burst into laughter… ticking of mom/photographer. LOL
OH and I LOVE her hair! But hey, what do I know… I’m still rocking an afro in 2009. LOL
I say Goth on, with your bad self! And hurray for parents that can raise three kids that look happy.
I love this picture! I think mom and Goth girl had an agreement: you can dress how you want as long as you smile. I wish my parents had been as accepting of me.
Me too!!
She’s got a date at midnight with Nosferatu.
Oh baby, Lily Munster ain’t got nothin’ on you.
is that Abby from NCIS?
OMG my mother has a photo eerily similar to this one hanging in her home, tragically I was the “happy goth” in that one. She let me dress however I wanted – but documented every fad with photographs she proudly displays all over her home. My family will never let me live it down.
Holding out on us Alice? submit your pictures! we wanna see then now. Tell you what I’ll go see if I can find the ones were me and my sister went through a “wearing turkey nets” for hats phase.
Yes, please, Alice
Well, it would be a good opportunity to get them off her walls…but it wouldn’t be the first time I tried, she’s probably on to me by now.
But if I do, it will definitely have to be the one with the choker (much like above), blue and purple striped hair and a shade of foundation my mother dubbed ‘rigor mortis’…..Oh the shame.
Adam Lambert- the junior high years.
Nice tribute to Flock of Seagulls. I’m feeling nostalgic.
I meant the Harry Potter trio…awkward for everyone involved there.
This photo would be a great tool for use in a class on diversity. It’s awesome! Go goth girl!
Abby from NCIS before she became famous.
What’s awkward, to me, is the goth girl’s hand placement. Why isn’t it on the shoulder? Why is it so on her chestal area??
It looks like it was slightly photoshopped… you can see the middle girl’s shoulder THRU goth girl’s abdomen.
Yeah i agree. Im not one to call photoshop often. But I think (depending on how old this pic is of course) that maybe it was some retouching that didnt go well.
Goth girl is standing at an angle with her sister’s shoulder against her stomach. It’s not PS, I’ve been in photos with similar positioning (we had a big family and they always made us squeeze in).
I think more awkward than the goth sis is the placement of the goth sis’ hand..
That was my thought, too! The contrast between “normal” and “goth” is funny (and it’s a cute sibling shot in general), but where the photog had her put her hand is awkward!
“One of these things is not like the other. One of these things is not the same!!”
I love this so much! I actually think it’s super sweet!
Goth girl was photoshopped into the picture. That’s why she looks so out of place.
Why does everyone have to spoil the fun by saying the photos are fake…..as if there are no Awkward people out there so they have to make this stuff up…my moneys on real!
I only said it to be sarcastic. Who cares if it was photo shopped. It’s funny. Sorry if it bugged you.
Ha ha! I love it.
hurrrr durrrr you made the photoshop joke hurrrr durrrrr don’t forget the compund bow joke!
Yeah, you can tell from the pixels.
There are so many things to like about this picture! I love the way everyone looks so happy and comfortable with each other. You know the parents are supportive of the kids if they look so at ease with themselves. Overall, I find the picture endearing, not awkward. And I agree – she is the happiest goth I’ve ever seen!
I so totally agree. I would be proud of all three of these kids if they were mine and how sweet is it that they all agreed to take this pic for their parents.
I love the fact that the goth chick would pose for a picture with her siblings and (sorta) smile. And I agree with Lauren. They do look like sweet kids. Great awkard picture.
The Goth sister is kind of shocking at first, but, I agree it’s not a bad sibling photo. Then I saw goth girl’s hand a little awkwardly placed on sister’s chest region…
Their childhood games were almost exclusively “Duck, Duck, Goth!” variants.
Win!
looks like she’ll sprout wings and fly away into the darkness any minute!
It’s the offspring of Becky, Darlene and D.J. with their very own sitcom, coming soon!
That was EXACTLY what I was thinking! Thank you for making me almost spit out my coffee from laughing so hard!
I LOVE this picture. I think it’s adorable. They look like very sweet kids.
Me too! Happy and well adjusted, I’d say.
)
she the happiest goth i’ve ever seen!
She grew up to be on NCIS.
Good one! LOL
Exactly what I was thinking! LOL
^ SO GOOD.
Yeah, but isn’t ‘happy goth’ an oxymoron?
That’s what I thought. I mean, where is her scowl? On second though, could Goth Girl be….gulp…..their mom????
I am a mom and a *gulp* Goth. In my family pictures I never tried to be anything other than I (still) am. Today I treasure the photos with my family, especially my departed Grandmother. They were never embarrassed to be in a photo with me, even our FIVE generation family photo.
At least it looks like she gets along with her family and is accepted however she chooses to dress.
/soapbox
Well said, Marusya. Just because someone is a goth doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of being a good parent. And goths can be very happy.
Thank you Marusya for shedding a positive light on the subject.
My family photos are similar, considering I am goth, female, and 16. However, I do not wear black lipstick and never will.
What most people do not realize is how harmless and not freakish goth is.
Goth is based on the music, and many deathrock and batcave bands sound eerily mainstream.
I urge anyone who is uncertain about goth to listen to the band “Specimen”. They are one of the most popular goth bands and many people are surprised at how “normal” they are.
Its not always based on music. I just loved the way the clothes looked, so I dressed that way. Heck, I liked Hanson.
On that same note:
I was always one of the “freaks”. My mother HATED my Converse. In the last couple of years (after I had my son) they became a joke and something she loved.
Shortly before her death my husband, 17 month old son and I had a portrait made for her where we’re all wearing black Converse. She loved it!
My Grandma had been a flapper in the 20s, wore red high heels & blue nail polish in an era when people thought you’d go to hell for it, and loved fun and partying. even in her 70s she still wore hot pink & turquoise, false eyelashes, & big, gaudy jewelry. she loved the way i looked, she thought it was great, crazy thrift store clothes, wacky colored hair, mohawks, whatever- it was all great to her. i think it was in my mid-late 30s that my parents finally realized i was not going through a “phase”. X-D
I’m 30 and my mom has yet to realize I’m not going through a “phase”. I still dye my hair pink, finally got my labret pierced (Xmas pres. from hubby, after wanting it for several years – already have a few other facial piercings) and wear all kinds of crazy stuff (yes, I still shop at Hot Topic too.
Yet some people in my family still choose to try to use the “backhanded compliment” method to change me into their idea of whom/what I should be.
Funnily enough, I’m very conservative politically and morally, am a homeschool mom of (now) 6, and thankfully I’m surrounded by people here in my new home state who love and accept me for who/what I am, no strings or judgement attached.
This looks like a promo pic for a wacky ABC Family sitcom…COMING SOON!
Seriously, that is cute to see them all happy even though they look like relatives at random.
OMG, u read my mind!!!
Wasn’t this on after Mork and Mindy?
XD
On further reflection, the boy is the only one who is not wearing a dark sweater hoodie. Get with the program, bro!
It’s always awkward when one of the kids just won’t fit in with their siblings. For weeks now, her parents have been trying to convince her NOT to dye her hair red before the photo shoot and to stop wearing those blasted rainbow shirts.
Good response!
Haha hilarious
Love it!!
LMAO, this had me dying!
OMG—your comment made me roll on the floor laughing!!! Too clever!
That’s probably the best way for parents to respond to the rebellious teenage years. Take lots of pictures to embarrass them with after they grow out of it.
LOL! I had a mohawk in college back in the 1980s. I love those old photos and I’m not embarrassed at all.
Post them
Mohawks aren’t as reviled as mullets today.
ditto…and i still dye my hair crazy colors. some people really *are* eccentric, and not doing it to rebel or be “shocking”.
u know..most people dont “grow out of” who they are
Most people aren’t “who they are” when they are teenagers.
lol.
wisdom.
**THIS PHOTO IS NOT PHOTOSHOPPED**
As awkward as I feel saying this, and as much as I want to kill my sister
for posting this, I am the ‘goth girl’ in the picture and it is real.
On a funny note, the photographer at Safeway asked before she took the
photo: “Does your mom know you look like this today?”
so did you outgrow the goth phase?
You are so awesome “Girl in the photo”. Seriously. I love that you not only had the courage to be who you were back then and that you were sweet enough to pose with your siblings for a picture for your parents but that you were also courageous enough to come on here and respond.
You look adorable, I’m always happy to see other Goth kid pics- I have a few myself.
Mine were really cool about it. My Mom actually dyed my hair blue when I was 14 (I’m in my 30′s now).
It’s really awesome that (I assume) your parents just let you be you
And, no,we don’t all “grow out of it”, for the rest of you. I may have altered it over the years, even toned it down, but I’m still me. It’s more like I grew with it.
Can we all please stop acting like anyone that’s ever done anything fun, kooky, or odd should be ashamed? It’s really rude, and I like to come here because the pics are fun and the comments aren’t (usually) mean-spirited.
You’re all smiling, and the smiles look natural. That makes it 500% better than most “professional” photos of teenagers.
“Does your mom know you look like this today?” LMAO I am just remembering that exact same phrase from my youth too:)
Your family looks sweet.
Nice.
I’ll see if I can dig up my 80′s school pictures when I looked like the inspiration for Punky Brewster.
Yes, but most do grow out of thinking that dressing purposely to draw attention to themselves (which they then declare — loudly — that they do not want) is the way to express one’s individuality.
and some of us just have odd tastes and really don’t care whether people stare or not.
AMEN!
Well put.
Amen, butcherbaby. My daughter had an appearance all through high school much like Girl in the photo. Had hair every color in the rainbow, stretched her earlobes, had crazy eyliner complete with flowers, stars, or whatever. And she most decidedly did not care what anyone else thought, even though we lived in a very small town in Nebraska. Today, she is a well adjusted mother of three, makes good use of her creativity by doing hair for a living, and no – STILL does not care what anyone else thinks. And I adore her for her individuality.