Previous Results of Ivy le Jolie's Goth Survey

Previous Results of the Survey.

Originally published Jan 97
[crying soul]

First of all, thank you to the hundreds of people who responded to my questionnaire. As long as people are participating, I'll keep the survey there. New results will be forthcoming in June, and who knows what we'll have by then.

Below are the compiled results of the questionnaire... for anyone interested, these percentages were based off of more than 400 replies. The categories were chosen to represent the basic themes reflected in the answers.

What is Goth? Interested in learning what individual opinions are regarding what Goth actually is, I was not very surprised to learn that most people consider it to be a lifestyle, far and ahead of any other thoughts.

How long have you been Goth? I have included the number of people who either did not reply to that single question or who indicated that they did not consider themselves to be Goth, under the heading of n/a. Interestingly, the number of people who describe themselves as Goth who have only been so less than 3 months have mostly come in during the last couple of months. Is it growing, expanding....?

What do you think are the origins of Goth? The answers to this question seemed, in the beginning, to be impossible to categorize. As time went by, though, I was able to finally see some patterns. Some of the more interesting responses are listed below:

[what are the origins of Goth?]

...definitely England.

...the beatnik society.

...pain.

...the creation of light.

...Living Vampires.

...keeper of the dark angels.

...80's punk.

...bored teenagers.

...england in the dark ages.

...late 16th century Germany.

...dark corners of people's romantic minds.

...80's punk and 30's coffeehouses.

...medieval vampire stories.

...medieval times, romantic centuries, artists (cool cats).

...been around since the dawn of civilization.

...with the birth of intelligence in mankind.

...the intelligensia of the punks.

...the outcasts and depressed people in the world.

...sort of punk plus new music styles in mid-seventies.

...the heart of the Universe, God's heart.

...I think a group of people were just being themselves and the conformists didn't understand it so they had to give it a name to understand it, like religion.

...punk, hippies, all of the dark and mistreated children who don't just follow a different drummer but refuse to march and dance instead.

...originally Goth was actually an ethnic group in the Carpathians. That is where the name originated from. As for the new form - Bauhaus is credited with starting the music phase, but I think there have always been people with a morbid fascination of the dead.

...the momento of death fixation has been with mankind as long as original sin.

...the Doors, Black Sabbath, H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice and I guess Victorian horror novels and the romance that has always surrounded vampires and dark art.

...some are born Goth, some achieve Goth, some have Goth thrust upon them, some watch the Crow a few times, put on eyeliner, and start annoying people.

Created and copywrite by Ivy le Jolie 1-18-97.

Jan 1998 Results of Ivy le Jolie's Goth Survey
https://members.tripod.com/~IvyleJolie/jan97results.html
Last Updated: 8 May 1998