DISQUS

ETC: Everyday Thoughts Collected: Emo Youth Attacked in Mexico

  • Randy · 1 year ago
    of course I don't understand why the youth worker is attributing this to the "conservative" side ... I think it is just the violent, criminal and ignorant side.

    I watched a couple of the news clips and this was horrible. I was deeply moved for the victims. I agree that it was more about homophobia than emo. But I also wonder if "blood lust" isn't making a comeback as an entertainment form outside of fiction?

    I hate that this happens toward people who identify as gay or are perceived as same sex attracted.
  • Fay · 1 year ago
    Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.
  • B.T.Carolus · 1 year ago
    In my (about 45-50% Hispanic high school) emo was/is perceived as 'sissy goth.' And the guys specifically think they are stupid and a big joke (my high school also only had 80 students, so I have a pretty good pulse on what we all thought), but there's never been a big association with homosexuality per se. If anything they associate it with sissyness and self-absorption and suicide. My brother and his friends often photoshop silly pictures of each other as emos, or use emo in their flickr names. Which I'm sure they would not do if they identified it with queerness.

    Anyway, Mexican culture is often associated with an extremely dominant sense of 'traditional gender roles,' especially in enforcing stereotypical masculinity and/or 'machismo,' (with its positive expression in performing male gender roles, and its negative expression in demonstrating non-femininity, often by displaying dominance over women and contempt for the feminine [this is all obviously academic talk]). So the conservative element of Mexican culture, as understood by somebody conversant in the academic understanding of the Mexican male, would be acting to repress the perceived feminine expression of other Mexican males to both re-assert the dominance of the Mexican man and to eliminate the (perceived) inferior tendency within their society.
  • Vinny · 1 year ago
    Ok, most of what Ellie said is right (and I'm her brother and go to the same school).

    In the flickr's that my friends do, we're making fun of people when we call them emo. We made a flickr for my friend and called him emo in it. And one of my friend's flickr screen name is 'I wish my grass was emo so it would cut itself.' Which he made for himself and we (and other people we don't know) find extremely funny. We use it to make fun of people, but if you actually asked us about emo people we feel sorry for them. Like we feel sorry that they have that lifestyle. We used to call each other gay and queer and stuff as put down, but we wouldn't make their screen name that because it would be too mean. And I think maybe emo started not gay and now there's starting to be a lot of gay emo people, as a thought, but I really don't know. It's not how I usually think of them.
  • Randy · 1 year ago
    Hi Vinny, brother of Ellie, Thank you for adding your comment.

    I don't understand the humor or name calling but I appreciate your willingness to explain your perspective.

    Have you ever met or known someone who actually did cut themselves? I did as a teen a few times. It's a horrible place for the person suffering and I would ask you to reconsider the humor/pity behind those actions.

    Again, glad you commented.
  • Unknown · 1 year ago
    The world is full of differences so people must just get over themselves and live with it. You don't see emos starting a war against jocks, preps, hippies, etc. So what if we like a certain type of music and dress in a different way? So do other labelled groups! It's what we like and what we are comfortable with.
  • Unknown · 1 year ago
    Oh and to reply to some people, tou don't have to be gay to be emo. And the depression - ever thought that there could be a serious reason for that?
  • elpollo · 1 year ago
    You must have been shocked at this beating.