Written by Bjørge Rysstad

Being of a young age (The 18-25 group) I have noticed that a great deal of young people in the vampire community both online and offline seem to share a common way of thinking in regards to how they would like to come across to others. Stereotypically most seem to adorn black clothing and make-up, they seem to fit into the Gothic subculture, have a similar trend towards musical interest, sleeping patters and a great deal more.

Let's look at this in a little more detail:

Movies portray Vampires as Gothic type men and women, typically listen to a blend of classical or rock music, spend most of their awake hours during the night, generally completely opposite to the mainstream man/woman.

I've spent a lot of time trying to examine people and so far I've found that most people tent to fit into a genre heavily because they actually WANT to, not because it's just a coincidence that it's how they are.

So why try to fit in? Well let's say a young boy, age 5 grows up and during his school life he's a bit underweight and a bit short, all the other boys call him a girly boy as he has a small figure. As he grows, he continues to be bullied and becomes an outcast, now let's throw into the equation that around about puberty he realizes he's a vampire and experiences his awakening period. This would mean he would have to keep secrets, he would be feeling somewhat more of an outcast, this time a very serious kind of outcast, what does he do? He it's into a culture that accepts him and his behavior and things as NORMAL. Within the Gothic subculture, he's just different... like everyone else...

So that's the main reason people try to fit in, another is that some people actually feel insecure being a lone identity, so rather than feel alone they would like to have a niche with which to connect, where they have someone else who can comfort them, in that case they are looking for a sense of community. Community can be a powerful thing, it's like having THE voice, you make yourself heard. It can be the kind of thing someone would want if they feel themselves to be an outsider, a way of making sure that slowly but surely as time goes on they gain the confidence to be comfortable with who they are and what they are. For this reason, I don't consider trying to fit in to fall into the realm of a bad thing at all.

So why all of a sudden is it a major importance for young vampires? Well to answer that simply, it's a confusing time, a very stressful shock to the system mentally and that can leave people disorientated and feeling very out of touch, as a result they try to meet an expectation they set themselves of what their opinion of a real vampire is, generally, the stereotypical Goth look. They feel that if they look the part they are more likely to become accepted into a community.

That is one of the key things I like about the Vampire Church, the sense of community isn't available to people to how they look, it's a place of learning, teaching, caring and understanding, it's a foundation that solid friendships are built on and that's why it's where it is now.