Emos: Watching us watching them

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Emos Watching us watching them

• Marilyn Palmer
• Social Work Program
• Faculty Regional Professional Studies (Bunbury
  Campus)
• Edith Cowan University

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Capturing my gaze ..

• The results of a research project on the
  perceptions and needs of rural young people in
  the south-west of WA (Oliver, et al., 2007).
• A school newsletter from Bunbury SHS, June 2007.
• A student doco called The Emo Myth

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Us and them competing values (and experiences)

• Mainstream culture Emo subculture
• Rational Emotional
• Individual Collective
• Blatant sexuality Ambiguous sexuality
• Success oriented Angst oriented
• Blatant consumer Ambiguous consumer
• To watch judge To be watched judged

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Media responses

• Mail Online EMO cult warning for parents
• The West Australian New Teen rebels look past
  the fringe How to spot an emo
• ABC 4 Investigation Emos exposed
• Mail Online Why no child is safe from the
  sinister cult of emo
• Emo - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
• You don't want people to judge you, yet you spend
  an hour doing your hair and putting on makeup?
• .sites for sensationalism, ridicule
  scare-mongering

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..but also

• Emo Corner - Emo Hair, Emo Pics, Emo Quotes, and
  Emo Poems
• Emo corner is a huge emo website. Tons of
  pictures, hair styles, forums, emo myspace
  graphics, boys kissing, etc.
• What the heck is emo anyway?
• A primer for a loose definition of what Emo is,
  with a best records list and links to other
  sites.
• Time Mexicos emo-bashing problem
• Times Online Emo kids are under attack. Are
  they scapegoats or sinners?
• sites for information, selling, support,
  networking

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Emos It was clear that this subgroup was not
well accepted by the majority of participants,
that they were seen as different and that they
hang together. In fact young people in our
study were quite vocal on the subject of Emos

• They are depressed people
• They should take anti-depressants
• Too many Emos here all they do is sit in their
  cave, slit their wrists and are hell aggro
• If you tease them, theyll threaten to cut you
• All of them are anorexic and bulimic
• All they want is attention
• Very clingy
• Emos are like Goths, but not so extreme
• Emos are the ones who got rejected and made
  their own group
• All Emos have family problems if someone else
  has a problem she (an Emo friend) tells them to
  get over it because their problems are bigger
  than yours.

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An extract from Bunbury SHS newsletter - June
2007

• Scot a visiting author had the students write
  lists of 10 things they hated and loved, and
  talked about how these could be used as the basis
  for creative writing. Here are some of the ideas
  that came out of these activities

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• Hated The McDonalds pickle politicians
  phlegm after youve drunk lemonade Emos My
  Chemical Romance prawns eyes Scientology KFC
  drive-through line on Thursday nights when you
  sneeze with a mouth full of food.

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• Loved guys who are tall, dark, handsome, brainy
  and interesting the spell of old libraries
  Mustang 2005 GTR Concept bubble wrap Emos
  accidentally hurting themselves the crackly
  feeling on your tongue when youve eaten prawn
  crackers seeing dead birds happy endings.

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