What is Emo?

Emo is a fad, a musical form, a fashion sense, a subculture and a lifestyle.  The name comes from the musical genre called emotive hardcore. The term emo itself is usually stated by emos as being short for "emotional."  The people in this lifestyle are usually in their early teens through the early twenties.  The are most easily identified by their fashion, consisting of black clothes, straight black hair, usually covering one eye, black framed glasses, tight, usually dark clothing, makeup is common, but not required, in both sexes, and gender roles seem somewhat blurred, and great deal of androgyny being indicated.  Emo music often speaks of emotional pain, self-injury, suicide, hopelessness, and death.   There are, of course, variations, as there are in any fad, but the main themes remain.

Emo originated in the 1980's as a form of punk music with more introspective lyrics.  As time wore on, the music changed into a style and a subculture.  Many fans of the orignail emo are rather dismayed with what has happened to their genre.  Many suggest that the original emo is "dead."  It is the current incarnation of emo that is addressed on this site, 

Why should I care about this "emo thing?"

The emo fad seems to be a bit different in several very important ways. 

• The emo subculture, in its glorification of self-injury, seems to have caused an epidemic of self-injury.  Self-injury is the intentional cutting, burning, or otherwise harming oneself without the intent of suicide.  Self-injury is usually done under the guise of releasing feelings, or to feel anything at all.  I have a page on self-injury to further describe this problem and how it relates to the emo subculture.
• Another concern is the increase in the teen suicide rate recently announced by the centers for disease control.  Please consult the section on suicide for more information on that issue.
• Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the emo subculture.  As mentioned earlier, my point is that the emo fad is different than the others that proceeded it because kids in this subculture are scarring themselves, and in some cases, dying.
• Look at our section on what can I do?  You will  find suggestions that concerned parents, teachers, doctors, therapists and school administrators can use to help children avoid or overcome the apparent destructive influences of this subculture.
• Please consult the Tragic Examples Page.  This lists the names and stories of kids that were involved in "emo," and committed suicide. 
• For those who question or deny the "glorification of self injury and suicide," please look at the On Line Posting Page for examples of this.
• A person sent me a message about being emo in the forum for the other site.  Please look at the Real Life Story Page for information on that.  
• The Denial Page addresses questions raised about the original site.
• There is the new links page with information for kids and parents alike.  If you have suggestions for more links, please post them in the forum. 
• There is a forum for the site.  If you wish to use it, you must register.  On the last site, anyone could post.  It lead to death threats and people spamming it so no one that disagreed with emo could discuss anything without being harrassed or threatened.  Resigstration will weed a great deal of that out.  Please register and share your experiences.  Communication among parents, educators, and other professionals will allow us to confront this danger in a constructive way! 

In the end, when you see a group of people talking about pain, nothingness, self injury and suicide, should we then be surprised when we see them doing what they are talking about?  Their music, images, and dress are all telling us something.  When are we going to pay attention to what they are telling us?