Goths and Discrimination - Leading to Death 2

This posting is really simply to record that five boys were sentenced today for the murder of Goth woman Sophie Lancaster in Bacup, Lancashire on 11th August 2007. Brendan Harris aged 15 and Ryan Herbert, 16 both received life sentences and Harris must serve a minimum of 18 years and Herbert 16 years, the judge said. Three others were sentenced for greivous bodily harm: Joseph Hulme aged 17 received five years and ten months, Danny Hulme aged 16 received five years and ten months and Daniel Mallett aged 17 received four years and four months.

Robert Maltby, Sophie's boyfriend, the intial focus of the attack, and put into a coma for it is now terrified to leave the house. Adam Lancaster, Sophie's brother thanked people for their support. Sylvia Lancaster, Sophie's mother said justice could not be done because any sentence could not bring her daughter back.

The judge noted how the attack had been mindless and had stemmed from almost a kind of entertainment for the five boys. The only ray of hope is that these boys were caught and will serve long sentences and hopefully the message of the consequences of such violence will penetrate the thick skulls of other boys tempted to behave in the same way. However much these boys might have thought they were tough men, they never understood that forever they will remain boys, because a man keeps control of his emotions and does not use his strength to cause harm, especially in the name of entertainment.

You can find pictures of the five boys online and it is clear that they are chavs. Much has been made of the Chav-Goth conflict, but in general it has always been more talked about and imagined than carried out. It is about definitions of young people, the thuggish, brainless youth despising those with a little more brains and a lot more culture. It is about choosing between going with the crowd, increasingly into drugs, underage sex, binge drinking and violence from both sexes or choosing a more distinctive path in order to make your statement about who you are. The bulk of UK society no matter what age they are pick the Chav option and as a consequence British society is sick. It helps foster the evil in boys like Brendan Harris and Ryan Herbert and let us say their names but only associated with what they are: utter scum.

The killing of Sophie Lancaster has to be seen in the context of numerous violent deaths of young people in the UK, some of the most notable being the murders of Stephen Lawrence, Damilola Taylor, Rhys Jones but these are just a few of the most prominent. The internet and local newspapers are filled weekly with stabbings and kickings to death predominantly of young people. In one town I was staying in recently two young men were kicked to death in the same street on the same evening in separate incidents and this was a southern English resort town, not inner-city Manchester or London. In the UK you can now be killed for being keen on football, going to a library, being the 'wrong' colour, being gay, in the wrong place at the wrong time, glancing at someone, or dressing in black clothing and dark make-up and walking home with your boyfriend. These 'offences' are sufficient in the UK to warrant your death at the hands of multiple killers.

Yet these killers will lose, they will not stamp out the spirit of youth and the courage of people to live the life they want. Think of Sophie Lancaster and what she could have been and what she could have enjoyed. Use that sense to dismiss the moronic thugs who are trying to crush who so many people in the UK are. When you emerge from your homes visibly a Goth, feel her spirit with you and walk proud.

Goths and Discrimination - Leading to Death

I am grateful to Alterphobia for his/her comment regarding the case of Sophie Lancaster which I am ashamed to say I entirely missed being reported last August. I suppose it is because I am an electronic Goth who sits at his PC late into the night rather than out and about talking to people. Sometimes I feel very connected with what is happening as a result, but in this case feel really embarrassed about this gap in my knowledge, especially as it was so much more serious, not to spout a truism: being refused access to a bus is bad, but death is far worse. You can read about the murder of Sophie Lancaster in many places over the internet. To summarise, she was 20 years old when she and her boyfriend Robert Maltby (21) were attacked in Rossendale in Lancashire (which borders on Yorkshire where last week's less grave incident occurred) while walking home across a park early on the morning of 11th August 2007. She died later from head injuries; Maltby went into a coma from which he has subsequently recovered.

The police and the victim's family feel the couple were attacked for being Goths. Yet, Sophie's mother notes that there are violent attacks in the area anyway, as there are in the bulk of British towns these days. Five boys between 15 and 17 have been arrested for the murder and face trial this March. So far we have not heard if they targeted the couple because they were Goths or simply because they happened to be passing by at a time when the boys decided to attack people. We should know more following the case. It may also be that small-town police are often a bit clueless and light on the fact that this couple were a bit 'different' as an explanation when in fact they may have equally been killed if they were chavs. In my town people of all kinds have been stabbed or kicked to death even; a lot of violence in the UK is mindless. However, we do know that crime against people from particular cultures is common across the UK. Gays and people from ethnic minorities have been attacked just for who they are; this has even gone to the extent of bombings as at the Admiral Duncan pub bombing and the Brick Lane pub bombing in 1999. Goths like people from ethnic minorities stick out especially in small towns and anyone who looks different is likely to be discriminated against and now easy targets suffer violence as well as verbal abuse. Being in a sub-group, as the law now recognises for racially-motivated crimes, increases your chances of being attacked, that appears certain.

The Lancaster case differs a bit from the Graves/Maltby case of last week. In terms of being banned from the bus, the motive was as much of them being sexual fetishists in domination and submission who happen to be Goths as being Goths per se. However, to discriminate against fetishists is along the same path, i.e. to discriminate against someone because of how they dress and the sub-culture that they identify themselves. Interestingly this has provoked me to think again about how I view women who veil their faces. I have worked with quite a few in my career and there are practical difficulties in terms of identification especially in this age when every business and I guess universities and colleges do too, uses identity cards. In addition, there is also a sense that Muslim women face family pressure to dress in a particular way, that they themselves may choose not to do. In addition, I do think education and religion should be kept separately. However, I am increasingly feeling that we should be tolerant of how people dress. There are some health and safety grounds and in some circumstances you would ask a Goth to remove their long coats or body piercings in the same way as you might ask a religious person to change their dress or remove insignia. However, these cases are few.

The murder of any person, especially a young one, is terrible. Goths though are literate, caring and intelligent and the reaction to this particular case has been widespread across the World, featuring a number of concerts in the UK, USA and Australia, some even covered on television. Her family are gathering funds to provide a memorial against hate crime. Importantly it has led to discussion of crimes against sub-cultures and a Number 10 petition to widen the definition of 'hate crime', to include crimes committed against a person or persons, on the basis of their appearance or subcultural interests'. This will not eliminate such attacks over night. However, it should strengthen the position of people from the Gothic community and others like bikers and ravers when people attack them or discriminate against them in any way. I do not think it will eliminate violence against Goths and I certainly think there are chavs who exploit the passive nature of Goths to taunt and assault them. However, I think that by developing protection for sub-cultures many other forms of discriminatory behaviour (to eliminate discriminatory attitudes is a lot longer and tougher process) will be choked off.

The online petition is at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/goth-hatecrimes/ You have to be a British citizen (or resident) in order to sign up. The deadline is 28th March 2008. I urge you to sign up and get your friends and relatives to do so too. There are currently 2,521 signatures, we all need to see more there. Whilst I wish that Sophie Lancaster was still alive, the least we can do is take steps will make sure her death was not in vain.

The Goths and the Bus Discrimination

It is interesting given what I have been saying recently about Gothic culture and how on the fringes there is some overlap with aspects of sexual fetishes as both aspects came together in a news story today. Dani Graves, a 25-year old male Goth and his fiancee Tasha Maltby, a 19-year old Goth and a student tried to board a bus in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. They were wearing Goth clothing (not that incredibly unusual, though Goths are rarer than they once were, token ones even appear on popular soap operas so few people can be ignorant of them) and crucially Dani was holding a leash connected to Tasha's collar.

Now, this is not an overly common thing among Goths, though it is not unknown. As I have noted before, Goths, though often quite shy people, like to surprise and even shock mundane society. They are also more open about their feelings, especially their passions, whether they are dark or light in tone. They often wear clothing that has sexual overtones, for example leather and corsets. Collars were an element of punk culture of the late 1970s too. The collar and leash use comes from a sexual fetish, dominance & submission, in that one partner has ownership or control of the other and treats them unequally like a possession or a pet. Typically this is done with full consent between two partners. In some relationships one is always the dominant and the other the submissive, sometimes people switch. It may be combined with bondage or sado-masochism. As I have noted before such fetishes, once the realm of secret clubs and the bedroom have been straying more opening into public, being used by the media, especially in advertising and by movie makers. You can go to fetish clubs and see this and just typing such phrases into any search engine will provide you with a range of images and stories to keep you occupied for the next day and night. However, it remains still very edgy in mundane society, especially a small town in Yorkshire, it is hardly central London or Manchester.

The reason why this has got into the newspapers and the radio (and it is interesting to see the response of the 'Daily Mail' seem as the epitome of Conservative, Middle England attitudes, they seem not to know who to censure on this, though it did say 'they live on benefits in a council house' as if they were being subsidised by the state and should have this stopped), is that Dani and Tasha were barred from getting on a bus by the driver who said, 'we don't let freaks and dogs like you on.' Now it is an interesting question to ask whether they were barred for being Goths or fetishists, I guess it was mix of the two, it was outside the driver's understanding and he could not accept it in his sight. Goths are renowned for their non-violence, so it is not that he could have felt threatened. The bus company have come out with some feeble excuse that it was unsafe for Tasha to be leashed, but they never raise that when toddlers wearing reins come on the bus or even real dogs.

Tasha described herself as 'I am a pet, I generally act animal like and I lead a really easy life'. She sees the collar and leash as part of her culture and a free choice that was not harming anyone. I agree with her whole heartedly on those grounds. It is a choice and clearly was consensual. Dani was shoved back by the driver who was actually off duty at the time and natually he has made a complaint against the driver. As Tasha noted it was certainly discrimination, though I would not go as far as her to say it 'almost like a hate crime' but it does signal a slippery slope which does lead to hate crime very easily. I remember Mark Thomas, the comedian-cum-political activist talking about a campaigner for Goth Rights who came on a demonstration he organised. Maybe such a campaign will have to swing into action to protect the right to be a Goth and not be discriminated against for how we dress and what we believe (if I substituted Christian/Muslim/woman for Goth, I think few would argue with me). Wave the black-on-black flag and stand up and say 'I am Goth and proud; Goth Rights Now!'