drug free youth- the subculture in your backyard
maybe you have seen them walking the halls at school. they pass you by every
day and you don't even notice them. a backpack-toting figure rushes past youyou manage to make out the words "drug free" or "straight edge" or simply "sxe"
before she/he disappears into the distance. "ha ha ha, 'drug free'," you laugh to
yourself, "yeah, me too! until this weekend!" and that's it- the encounter is over.
you have just been exposed to one of the nation's intense sub-cultures and you
don't even realize it.
an informally (if at all) organized youth movement based upon the life-long
abstinence of drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex, straight edge is a culture that
flourishes in 1999.
"straight edge- the discipline. the key to self-liberation is the absence from the
destructive escapism of intoxication. i separate from the poison- a mindlessness i
have always abhorred." earth crisis
straight edge, according to www.straight-edge.com, "developed as an offshoot of
the punk rock/hardcore scenes of the early 1980's." hardcore is a music genre
characterized by a guitar-driven, bass-heavy punk rock sound and inspirational
lyrics. ian mackaye, vocalist for the hardcore/punk band minor threat gave the
movement its name with a song titled "straight edge." straight edge culture, as
observed by courtney centner in her 1997 study of subcultures for the university
of melbourne in australia, is a music culture. in the early 80s, bands such as
minor threat, ssd, and uniform choice founded the sxe genre; later bands like
gorilla biscuits, bold, and youth of today continued to spread the straight edge
philosophy. back then, bar bouncers marked under aged kids' hands with the
letter "x" as a symbol of exclusion. the x was then adopted by 'edgers as a
symbol of rejection. the rejection of society's love affair with intoxication.
1980's straight edge was primarily based on the abstinence of drugs and
promiscuous sex. the 90's version, however, has expanded to include, but not
require, various political and environmental theories (including veganism- an
animal-free diet, no meat, dairy, sugar, honey etc. and various religions
including buddhism). along with the new beliefs have come new controversies.
there are numerous accounts of clashes between straight edgers and nonstraight edgers at hardcore shows and in areas where the scene flourishes (new
york, chicago, kentucky, and utah for example) these reports, however are
unreliable for several reasons. first, hardcore shows, by nature entail some
degree of what appears to be violence. to the untrained eye, mosh pits and
aggressive hardcore dances look like bloody battles between spectators. this
couldn't be any further from the truth; in fact, hardcore mosh pits are the safest
to get involved in due to the strong sense of unity among the kids. it gets
intense, but if someone looks like he/she can't handle it other members of the
crowd will pull the struggler out to safety. second, on the rare occasion a fight
does break out, it almost never has anything at all to do with straight edge. like
all other concerts, energy and emotions are riding high. violence within the scene
is not encouraged as it threatens the unity edgers have worked so hard to
obtain. violence against non-straight edgers has been at the center of
controversy. this unfortunate occurrence is usually the result of either
provocation or a sxe youth with misconstrued values. often times, non-straight
edge people will attend a sxe show with the intention of starting a fight with
some sxe kids. for one reason or another many people resent the existence of
straight edge and take that resentment to hardcore shows. other times edgers
are harassed on the streets by non straight edge. when the harassment ends in a
fight another case of sxe violence is sure to hit the headlines. sadly, though,
there have been cases of sxe youth attacking innocent people for not being
straight edge. these actions go against everything straight edge stands for and
are not approved of by most people who are straight edge. here is where the
story gets personal...i am straight edge. i have seen the acts of violence
members of my own scene have committed and i've seen and been victim of the
acts violence others have committed against us. i've had beer spit on me and
had smoke blown at me. i've been called names, pushed down, told off, and
made fun of because i'm dedicated to a drug free life style. i've been stereotyped
by the media, time magazine called us the "dysfunctional brady bunch" and
20/20 accused us of being a terrorist group. maxim magazine sited our existence
as one of the 50 signs that the world is coming to an end.
this is the truth about straight edge: it isn't about the music, or food, or religion,
it's about resisting pop culture's approval of drug abuse. it's about commitment,
dedication, and self-respect. this is not to say that if you aren't sxe you have no
self-respect, or that violence within any scene is acceptable. in fact, most 'edge
kids agree that this is a non-violent movement. so what is it about a positive
youth movement that scares the media so much? why does the prospect of a
drug free youth make the pubic cringe? why, after years of just say no, are the
kids who say no labeled terrorists? misconceptions, contradictions and
intolerance, that's why. violence is straight edge's number one enemy in the
media. recently, a group of hardliners (militant, vegan, often pro-life [ironically]
straight edge) bombed a mcdonalds in protest of the company's systematic
slaughter of billions of animals. soon after, a group of sxe males were arrested
for beating a fellow teenager almost to death for smoking near them. these
isolated cases of extremism, of course, were the stories the media chose to
pounce on. these acts of violence are inexcusable; there's no denying that. but
where's the 20/20 report on how many drunk driving accidents have been
prevented thanks to this culture of kids who refuse to drink? or the time article
on the loyalty and love shared in the sxe community? nowhere, of course,
because the media chooses the most negative aspects of society to report on. so
you won't hear connie chung say, "and now we hear from natalie mau, a 19 year
old feminist vegetarian female from joliet who felt isolated and rejected from
society as a result of her choice to remain drug free for life...until she discovered
straight edge. she now holds her head, and x-emblazoned fists high." you won't
hear her say it, but you'll hear me say it.
the media will continue to give us a bad name until there are enough of us who
speak out against that stereotype. have you hugged a straight edge today?