Faq

Skinheads identity crisis

Joellen wrote:

I hate to generalize, but a lot of people who aren't who are my friends tend to generalize as well. I made friends with this girl in one of my classes last year, and she found out I was a skin, and then it was like the whole skinhead was more important to talk about with me than anything else we used to talk about. She'd say things like "I told my boyfriend last night that I was friends with skinhead and he almost DIED. Can you believe it? So I thought maybe you could talk to him so he knows what you're about and he doesn't have to worry about me hanging out with you and all. "I was polishing my boots and my room mate and her friend were over, and the friend asked me why I was polishing my boots. I was polishing them because they looked like they'd been through a war. My roommate piped in with, "well, she's a skinhead, and skinheads have to have really shiny boots. "It seems that everything anyone else does normally, we only do because we're skinheads.
"Why is that girl over there eating hamburger, Tiffany?"
"Well, you see, Todd, my darling, she's skinhead."

God forbid the professors find out you are, you have to write papers about it when everyone else can choose the assignment.

"Well, I thought I might suggest that you write your paper on skinheads. Maybe you could write about the night your whole dorm tried breaking your door down when they found out and how you had to keep your self locked inside a parking meter in hand in case they got in you were going to hurl it at the first one's head as a warning to the others."
"Or maybe you could tell us all about the history behind the culture," when everyone else is writing about their familial historical backgrounds.

John M.Stafford replied:

A decade of experience has taught me that when someone who is not skinhead mentions the word "skinhead" to me, my reaction is to just smile at them. You don't agree, you don't deny. If you deny then you are obviously living a lie. But if you agree then the damn "skinhead" thing becomes more important that your own skills and personality. I have no need to discuss skinheads with non-skinheads, and I am not so insecure about it that I need to shove it down everyone's throats.

Horse wrote:

Skinheads aren't just static characters. We are dynamic (for those English majors out there) we have varied interests, we can't be holed into the stereotypical corner like the media and other idiots would like us to be.

And its this dynamic character that separates us from the wankers that try to horn in on the subculture. They try so hard to fit the stereotype that they stick out like sore thumb. And even further more that's why this subculture hasn't gone the way of grunge, or the raver, or any other fad that was there today then gone the next. The constrictiveness of each little fad wears off and loses its fun after a couple months.

It's the individuality that keeps it strong, with the respect and tradition at its base.