Emo vs. Preps

[Menehune™]

I'm sorry, not to be rude to anybody, though I bet it will turn out to be rude some way or another, but both labels, well...I find them both stupid. I know I should just ignore both labels, but I can't, so I'm just going to turn it into a debate. Flame me for all I care.

anyway, the now term for preps is - stuck up, rich, brats, cares about clothes alot.

emo - people who cut themselves. depressed. emotional.

Here are my thoughts.
www.neopets.com/~neutralityacts - Read it. It's about preps. The person who did that petpage wrote it much better then what I would be able to write.

My thoughts on 'emos' are, if 'emo' stands for emotional, wouldn't that mean everyone is 'emo'? I mean, all humans are emotional, even if it doesn't seem or look like it. Also, I think it's a stupid way to mock people with actual depression. the one's who think they're all depressed and crap. I mean, yes, some 'emo' people are depressed. By why the hell(sorry) would you you 'yell' out to the world that you're 'emo'? A lot of the sites I see 'emos' on are to happy and joyful. Not the 'sad and depressing' type of sites you would think the people would be on. The way they dress, eh, I could care less. But when they label themselves like emotional and crap, it annoys me. I've been called emo, which makes things even stupider and worse, and I've even been asked to show the so called 'cuts' on my wrists, even though I have none. It turned out to be a rant. ;;
Oh, and to me, emo stands for Emotive Hardcore, a music genre.

Anyway.

What are your thoughts about the two labels?

[Cassy]

I think stereotypes are all bull. I don't pay attention to them and I think they're a waste of time. -shrug-

[xx.Surreal.xx]

((emokittychik)) ? Um, perhaps she would be a good person to join this thread.
I am neither emo nor prep.

[PhoenixRaven]

Neither am I, if you follow those labels. I really would rather refuse to be labeled by the way I look and what not, but sadly the rest of the world does not see it so. I mean if I want to wear combat boots does that make me goth? No. If I want to wear Dulce and Gabbana sunglasses does that make me prep? Of course not. Now those were just some basic stereotypes that are normally different from each other. However, at school, I am constantly labeled, for a reason that I do not know. I'm pretty sure it's because people are afraid of me because of the stupid rumors. So I'll try to remember what I've been labeled: Goth, Punk, Necro (this one surprised me because I didn't even think the people at my school were capable of such a big word), Zombie, Ice Queen (I really laughed at this one, they called me Queen, that's all I seemed to take from it, so I would laugh at them), Vampire (At this point I hissed at the girls who ran off), and a ton of other things. People tend to find it funny to label me, but they really don't do it to my face, which is what bothers me. I mean, if someone is going to say something, I would rather they do it to my face instead of at the end of the hall and then run off. Only because it makes it easier to grab their collar and tell them they better never do that again. However I don't think I let it get to me that much, except when I heard down the hall "Go Die Goth! Be With Your Friends In The Grave!" Or something like that. Well I was actually just taking a drink of water from the fountain, didn't think I was doing that much to frighten people or something, but I got really pissed off at this point. Like rage x 100. So I shouted down the hall for whoever did it. The place went quiet. Now I was laughing a little in my head, but I didn't show it. The kid never fessed up, the coward. Now you may ask, what does this have to do with emo's and preps? Well I know what it's like to be labeled, and these kids who are labeled emo and prep are just the same as when someone is labeled goth. It's just stupid. People only label other people because they are too pathetic themselves and need to categorize people so that they themselves know what is 'cool' and what is not. Some other stupid crap too I'm sure. To me a label should be the thing on cereal telling you how much crap is in it. Especially when it says there is sugar and vitamins all in one box. Good labeling, end of story.

I also agree on the Emotive Hardcore genre. Don't know where they got that cut themselves depressed thing from Emo. Everyone has emotions, so what? When you call someone 'emo' does that mean the rest of us are all emotionless rocks? Confuses the heck out of me. But whatever, just leave it all alone. Someone wants to wear black, pink, blue, orange, w/e what should it matter? If I may label them, it would probably be 'stuck up snobs with nothing better to do other than label other people because they are so insecure about themselves.' Seems a bit long, so let's just stick with 'idiots'. Seems to work.

[Ink]

I think that the description that the web page you posted for preps isn't exactly true. If you're going to label a person than you might as well do it right. (Is there a right way? I don't know...) But anyways, they were describing prep in the literal sense, those who go to prep school. But the more common sense of the word that is used is those who do shop at American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch. Those who, even if they don't have a lot of money, act rich, those who do try to get the latest fashion and look their best. They care about their hair and their nails and if everything in their outfit is coordinated.
I myself try not to label people, but I don't think it is bad. If you're trying to describe some one it's a lot easier to use a label, (like if you said there was this girl and she looked like a prep as opposed to there was this girl and she dressed in more fashionable clothes and had a perfectly matching outfit, and bla bla bla) Also, a lot of people try to fit into a label, they think the style is cool and strive to look that way. I don't think it matters if they are just doing it to fit in, so what, they want friends, I say it's their own business how they go about getting them. Also, I think that if someone hates being labeled so much than they should change how they dress to that strange mix of categories that can't quite be labeled, not to be rude to you Raven, I'm just saying.

[PhoenixRaven]

No offense taken, trust me takes more than that to be rude to me. However I don't see why I should change how I dress just so that people stop talking. I want to look this way, I'll do it. I only dress the way I do because I like the clothes and stuff. I don't hate being labeled, I think its funny, but when someone does it behind my back, I think it's rude so therefore should not be tolerated. Really if people want to run off after shouting down the halls at me, that is where I draw the line. If you're going to say something to me, I'd rather it be to my face, not them run off and go laugh with their little friends about how they 'so dissed me' or w/e I hear them say, which is sometimes funny.

I feel the need to retell a story that happened to me, well on numerous occasions. I'm walking down the halls (and sometimes on the street)alone, and just randomly out of the blue people will shout "Lesbian!" So I'm standing here, in a WTH? mood. I was so confused the first time. The decided that since I wasn't feminine that I was 'butch' and therefore liked other butch girls and was a lesbian. How they came to this conclusion, I have no flipping idea. Now this brings up another huge thing about how labels effect people. Apparently what you wear shows your sexuality. To tell you the truth I'm still confused by this. Like where do people come up with this stuff? However I still dress the way I want to, and if they want to say stuff fine, but I'd rather laugh with my friends about some stupid random thing that makes no sense (like when my friend went to whip my other friend with a blanket, made the blanket hit the light bulb from the ceiling causing it to hang from a wire. We laughed at it for hours, don't know why.) then laugh about how I called someone something that has to do with their appearance. But it's like I said before, if I want to wear a spiked collar does that make me "Goth"? Does wearing some Gucci Bag make me "Prep"? Is it "Emo" to put on tons of eyeliner? Do band tees make me "Punk"? Playing sports makes me a "Jock"? Reading makes me a "Nerd"? Getting high grades makes me a "Geek"? Eating my lunch in the halls makes me a "Loner"? Hanging with people of the opposite gender makes me a "sleeper"? And I guess being PhoenixRaven makes you a lesbian. Stupid labels. Honestly, they are so broad and there is so much untruths behind them. The labels go from how you dress to what you act like to your sex life and sexuality. You label someone, and it can send the wrong image. Say you call this girl a "Geek" because she has braces, glasses, you know the whole movie stereotype thing. When the reality is she isn't that great in school, but when she goes on stage, she can dance. Ballet, professional, graceful. You would never think would you? This is why I don't like labels. My friends and I are constantly labeled for the way we dress and whatnot. But you would never guess our hobbies and interests that we like. I'm not about to change who I am so that people won't tease me. I'd rather kick their face in to be honest, but who really cares what they say? I'm happy, so what does it matter. High School is just hell, and after it's over, at your workplace Sandy from accounting isn't going to go up to you and say "Stupid Emo Kid! Go Cry In Your Cubicle!" It just doesn't happen. I've actually written a few reports a while back about labeling and how what people say about the way you dress pretty much says everything else about you, and how it is NEVER true. Meh. Listen to me, ranting on. Blah. All I'm saying is that I know of people who just might fit those fashion stereotypes, but when they go home, it's a whole different story. I think the ballet girl (not saying her real name) is a good example of that. I know other people who just trash that stereotype. School talent shows are great for this. I finally persuaded one of my friends to sing in it after hearing him when I walked by the guy's washroom. He had some pipes! Let me try and set an image to this guy. Big. Tall. Spikes. Chains. Boots. Makeup. Not one you would think of as a nice guy. He walked out, the music started to play, and people laughed. They shut up when he sang. He was so great! Another crushed label. Finally I'll tell you about one of my older friends (She moved a year ago, or something like that). Again, let's set up the image stereotype. Blond. Blue eyes. Pink everything. Fluffy everything. Dresses. Heels. Expensive everything. Girl all the guys want. You probably know someone like that, or who might be labeled like that. Well her room wasn't filled with pink. It was filled with snakes and lizards and scorpions and tarantulas(i love them lol). You would never think either. Her fav pet was her tarantula (forget the name) and she even brought the exco skeleton to school (it was so cool) and everyone was so shocked. Their girly girl was into something no one would ever picture her to be. She was the girl who picked up those centipede things with long legs and put them outside so people wouldn't step on him. She loved bugs and reptiles. She was awesome. Stereotype 0 Her 1 Million.

I'm just saying that stereotypes, they aren't even accurate so what's the point? Especially when you base someone's sexual orientation upon what they wear. Like wth? I still don't get it.

[Cassy]

Like you said, Phoenix, movies are the biggest seller for stereotypes. What I don't get is that, in every stereotypical movie you see, the people who actually are stereotyped end up being either great people or havign some hidden talent. But in reality, when we blame things on movies, we always blame it on the beginning when the plot hasn't fully unfolded and the moral hasn't been uncovered. So does everyone just watch the beginning and not care about the end?

Stereotypes are stupid, yes, they're not true, no, they're hurtful sometimes, yes. And I agree with Ink...that site about the preps doesn't really have anything to do with popculture. Sure, it explains where the phrase came from, but when we think of preps, we think of high class snobs, not people from prep school. Because what is prep school but another form of high school, only with better clothes (and I say 'better' meaning more coordinated)?

It just doesn't make sense to label anyone anything because, like Phoenix said, no one knows everything about everyone and no one can properly label someone if they don't know all about them (or at least a lot about them, and not just what they project). I also don't think people should break down and conform like Ink said. They dress the way they do because it's what makes them comfortable. If they're gonna go ahead and break down and try to stop people from calling them names, it should be by ignoring them and laughing in their faces, not giving in and changing their whole style, just so they can stand out to fit in.

I actually completely understand the whole labelling thing, though. People label other people to get a hold of their own self. People who call each other hurtful names only try to make themselves feel better or look better to other people. It's useless, it's stupid and it's totally sadistic, but people do it and I fear that'll never change. Then again, it's part of their personalities...Or the personality is what they're trying to hide, so they put on a mask and act out of character (excuse the RPG speak) to try and seem like everyone else.

The whole world conforms, no matter how much everyone tries to deny it. It can't be stopped, it's a way of life, it's bullnuts, but then again, it's all we know.

[Ink]

I don't view labels and sterotypes as synonimis (sp?) so, uh yeah. To me, a label is refering to how someone dresses, emo, goth, prep, jock, whatever, and stereotyping someone is lumping them into the category that they dress. Like, obviously people aren't always going to act like the label that their clothes would fit into. For instance I once wore a My CHemical Romance shirt to school the day after I went ot see them in concert and I got called a poser by someone (I'm not sure who, but I think it was this girl Hannah) because apparently I seem more like the type to listen the country and christian music (according to my friend Sydni and I guess she wasn't the only one who thought so) so yeah. I mean, a label is just a way of describing someones outward appearance because that's the look they have, if a person wears clothes that could fit into a label than obviously that's how they will be described, but stereotyping is saying that if someone dresses that way than they act that way too. It's just like when people stereotype teenagers as theifs and hooligan sand such and give them suspicious glances in the store, when not all teenagers, despite their teenager-y appearance are like that.
I have no idea if that made sense, and I'm sure I view it differently than most people, but yeah. *shrug*

[Cassy]

Technically, that's true, but labelling leads to stereotyping.

[xx.Surreal.xx]

Good point, ink.

[Ink]

Well you know, I'm logical in my insanity. ^^

[xx.Surreal.xx]

That you are.

[Menehune™]

I like the replies. :^_^:

[xx.Surreal.xx]

You forget about emo-prep-posers! lol