My sincere apologies. I must have missed your comment somehow until now. Thank you very much for taking your time to leave this interesting comment.

If it helps answer your questions some, my goth girl friends have gone on to-
+ work as an assistant editor at a large publishing company
+ develop an independent fetish/clubwear brand
+ do PR for a high-end (mainstream) fashion label
+ do sales for a feminist sex shop franchise while volunteering at an independent bookstore/coffee shop specializing in counterculture literature
+ work as an IB for JP Morgan
+ own and regularly practice at a veterinary clinic while freelancing as a translator
+ work as a digital user interface engineer for a Silicon Valley company

None of them have completely surrendered their gothic tendencies, but most have reigned them in. One friend likes to joke about being a poseur for making it out of adolescence alive, and ditching Crowley to worship at the House of Starbucks.

Noted with thanks.

exlurker:

Oh, that is a very pretty flash comic. I especially like the contrast of light and darkness – the light looks so pretty. Many thanks for that!

ado:

I am inclined to agree about the soulmate part – the goth girls I knew were certainly like that. They always seemed to yearn for some understanding and sympathetic soul. In a way, I thought they were setting up themselves for abuse by vain and manipulative guys who preyed on that yearning.

Some years ago I lived in France around the Bretagne area, and every morning you had this eerie atmosphere, alone in the fog of the early hours of the day and the bell of the nearest church ringing…for sure it can wake some wild fantasies.

Not really related, but I came across this flash comic the other day and was reminded of your post for some reason.

http://yuumei.deviantart.com/art/Knite-Chapter-1-151132545

The thing is, I have been asking friends from N. America / Europe who have come to work on this side of the Pacific several questions recently:

Whatever happened to the goths they used to know at high school/university? How do they fare in the current economic environment and what kind of jobs do they get? Do goths go on being goths in middle-age?

It seems that either the goths tend to commit suicide, or get out of it after a really bad slump of alcohol, drugs and general self-destruction to lead a normal life, even if normal life seems to be… a jaded existence of McJob (goths tend not to have the stellar grades to make it to the lucrative and prestigious corporate jobs).

It is just strange and a little sad for me to observe all these otherwise intelligent and sensitive people wobbling in self-hate and to whom there seems to be no future. You seldom see that sort of pessimism/nihilism on this side of the Pacific – here people are more upbeat and confident that the future will be even better than today.

It has been years and years since I last laid eyes on a goth.

I really enjoyed your little anecdote about the goth girl though…reminds me of a few people in that city I knew as well. Reading it now it has a Murakami-esque vibe to but I can’t put my finger on exactly why. Thanks for sharing anyway – it brought back some good memories.