Don't mock us Goths, we're "highbrow" now...

[matgb]

Has hell frozen over?

Or maybe it's just heaven is warming up?

goths are middle class to the core and have "very high-brow" values

- from The Telegraph.

That's right, the bastion of English conservatism says I'm highbrow and (almost) respectable. The Independent wrote up a nice two page study (shame they got some band facts wrong, ah well).

The Guardian? Takes the piss.

Is your boss a goth? 10 telltale signs

1 Drinks snakebite

And, of course, gets the facts wrong:

That is the surprising finding of Sussex University's Dunja Brill, whose doctorate in media and cultural studies looked at people with funny hair and eyeliner in London, Brighton and Cologne, and who is herself a former goth.

(Because, of course, 32 year old academics have to have grown out of that sort of thing, right?)

Or, as quoted in the Independent:

Dr Dunja Brill, a 32-year-old German with her own Gothic tendencies ... "The Goth lifestyle allows you to lead a perfectly sane, stable lifestyle with a proper job, your own flat and even a family, then at the weekends or in your leisure time follow your Gothic activities," said Dr Brill.

There's a bit more on the blog of one of the Indy's other interviewees Andrew Collins.

Still, it has allowed lots of journalists to "come out of the closet" and write up articles about their "dark past". Let's face it, drop something in the street; most likely to stop and help? That "dodgy goth type". Least likely? The selfish fasion victim.

Plus ca change.

Should I be worried? Next up they'll be saying I'm a respectable graduate with responsibilities in a challenging job...

Oh, wait.