where did the emo lifestyle come from?

Question

everyone on the internet says the whole emo thing is much more than the hair, clothes, and everything else. lots of people say emo is a lifestyle.

well, for a long time i've been called emo, i i decided to do a web search on it. they say emos cut themselves, and wear tight clothes, and are all depressed all the time.
but besides wearing tight clothes, i'm not emo at all.

then i found out there's a whole lifestyle behind it, and i simply don't like being called emo, espically since i don't think i follow the lifestyle behind it. then i'm considered a poser for something i don't want to be, or even be a poser for!
so i was wondering...
what is this lifestyle, and where did it come from?

Answer 1

I got out of highschool in 2000, there was no such thing as this "emo" group, BUT there were the goths, phrecks, which had a close relaitonship with the skater groups. So really it might be a slow evolution. As far as a lifestyle, no group truly shares a life-style but an ideology that influences that lifestyle, thats the big problem people have when associated ANY individual to a general group. You could call some one "thugish" yet they could be from a rich suburban neighborhood and share NOTHING with the poor inter-city thug, and YET be treated the same. Same for preps, I could be a major jock, yet be a huge pothead, which group does that put me in? Jorks or druggies/thugs? So really its better to pride yourself on being part of many groups, no real "home group". Thats what I did, fit in with everyone because I shared something with the ideals associated with them, which IS the common thread between all groups regardless of the individuals personal lifestyle. THese are typically fundemental intangled into the defining element of the group, the clothes. Like your dressing is most likly black or dark, this typical conveys a dark, sinister apparence that goes well with the anti-social ideals associated with emo's. Same could be said for a thug, wearing baggy clothes and pimp styled jewely becaues there major ideals, getting woman and drugs. This thou in reality doesn't work well, were all pretty much individuals, BUT due to the fact that there is no pre-established roles for us to get into, WE MADE THEM UP! Got to love society! They inbody the different mental perceptions we can have, but in no way dictate the perceptions of the individuals in that group. You can have a druged out prep, you can have a conforming emo, you can have a church going thug. The point is that we need predefined groups because they give us confidence, direction, and purpose. So your actually picking what makes you feel most confortable mentally.

Emos make you feel confrontable if your open-minded to the problems of society.

Jocks/preps make you feel confrontable if your pretty much in the camp that societies direction is in the right.

Thugs give you away out of all the bs and you get to just enjoy the simple things, no ideological discussions, just sex and drugs.

So there a refection of our society, typically if you share this core idealogies with the group your in your going to share the same basic lifestyle, which is about the only thing people see. The rich thug going after woman and drugs. The conforming emo wearing dark dress and giving everyone the blank expression. The pothead jock making the winning touch down and dating miss chearleader. So to see someone in a group is not to see them deep enough..... which is the real problem

Answer 2

Although I don't knnow the answer to your question, I also wear tight-ish clothes and am branded an 'emo' for doing so.
It's pretty annoying I can tell you, especially when you have no clue what they are on about.

So my point is, you are not alone, my friend...lol