Emo! Short for emotional as so many others have stated it, but that is very vague and it would be better to say emo means aggressive emotional THOUGHTS. Not actions but thoughts. If any of you have ever gone through a tough break up and thought suicidal thoughts, or thoughts of stabbing your ex in the chest, then you have had what I like to call as en emo moment.
MUSIC
There are many elements that make up emo. For instance, emo music. It is in essence the fall out of punk rock. The lyrics of emo music are often misread however. A normal human being might hear these and think how creepy teenager’s music is getting, but let’s delve deeper. In the song “One Eight Seven” by Senses Fail (who as a matter of fact is an emo band) a part of the lyrics say ‘You ripped my heart out, you tore my eyes out, now you’re gonna pay. I’ll stab you one time. I’ll eat your heart out, so you feel my pain. Don’t you know that I always see you in all of my dreams? I wanna kill you. I wanna kill you. Now I’m insane.’ Sure on the surface you see a killer trying to get revenge on there ex-lover but if you look from an “emotional” point of view, you see someone who has been killed emotionally and is looking for a way to get back at them. So whether or not it’s talking about the physical act of murder, or the sometime worse act of emotional murder is up to the person listening to the song, and that is what gives emo music depth!
FASHION AND SOCIALITY
Anybody can listen to emo music and not be emo, (I listen to emo music… I’m not emo!) but what really separates emos from the rest of the world is the fashion trends that so many have come to call their own. For guys; tight (chick tight), dark pants and sagged on the butt. With a two sizes too small t-shirt or sweater. The emo guy hair is usually dark brown or black (with unnatural hair color highlights) brushed to one side of the face covering one or both eyes. For the emo chicks; tight, straight leg pants, and any variation of skin tight top. The emo girl’s hair is usually anything that looks big, uneven, and black or brown (with white, purple, or bright blonde highlights). Both male and female wear either skater shoes or torn up converses, and black, rectangular rimmed glasses. Below is the percentages of what emo is made up of.
30% Goth
10% Preppy
40% Skater
15% Retro
15% Geek/Nerd
STEREOTYPING
On the issue of emo prejudice, there are few middle of the roaders, but I am one. I think that an emo person has every right to look however he wants and everyone should respect him as long as he respects everyone else. However, if an emo chooses to dress this way then he should be willing to except stereotyping. If a chick dresses slutty, whether she is or isn’t, then by man’s natural way of assuming, we will and should assume that she is a slut. Fashion is a name tag and if you don’t like that name that goes along with it, then get rid of it. Because if not, you set yourself up for criticism and get what you deserve!
