I’ve not given up on WGW! But I have stopped taking photos. I love dressing up as much as the next person, but when Fancy-Dress and Roleplaying takes over from the Music, it makes me sad.
Living an alternative lifestyle, looking different from the norm, never quite fitting in with the mainstream… this is how I have spent my life. As a result I have been physically and verbally abused regularly throughout my life. I’ve been declined entry to public places, treated as a second rate citizen on many occassions and even been rejected for jobs specifically because I ‘have funny looking hair’. I have fought to gain respect in my workplace for the work that I do rather than for the way I look. I think i’ve just about got there after 20 odd years.
… So for me dressing and looking different is not a twice a year thing. At the end of WGW i don’t return to the mainstream world… What you see me wearing in Whitby is what I wear throughout the year… Granted, I don’t get dressed to the nines to nip down to the supermarket, but dyed, mohawk’d hair, black jeans, black shirt etc are my day to day clothes…
Wear this during WGW and you will probably go unnoticed in the main, but wear it back in your hometown and you’ll stick out like a sore thumb. You’ll get verbal abuse, you’ll be treated differently in shops and possibly worse… try it some time:-)
For this reason I am no longer inclined to take and publish photos.. WGW is not a freakshow, it’s a music festival, a twice yearly chance to hang out with people, from across the country, in a similar situation to yourself… For a few days a year Alt/Goth people have the chance (in the main) to get away from the onslaught of abuse and prejudice displayed in their hometown, listen to some (sometimes) good music, have a drink or three and relax… This is what WGW is about for me and I hope it remains that way for a long, long time! See you in March 2011
