Giving those emo kids something to really cry about

 by Lauren Cusimano
 published on Wednesday, April 9, 2008

In a few of Mexico's major cities, an aggressive wave of rejection has overcome emo kids, resulting in violent street beatings and protests.

Emo is a genre of music that is short for emotional. With a genre comes style, and the emo style usually brings pitch-black hair, dark eye-makeup, tight pants and gender-blending.

According to Time magazine, the bulk of emo kids everywhere are teenagers, commonly 15 or 16 years old. They are from middle-class families, inexperienced of the "street battles in Mexico's hardened barrios."

Some of Mexico's youths have organized an anti-emo movement on the Internet. Blogs, videos and cartoons were all used to evoke this movement, leading to a March 7 attack on the Plaza de Armas in Queretaro, where the emo-kids were known to hang out. According to NPR.org, about 800 people showed, ready to assail.

The attackers are mainly metalheads and punks.

Emo kids were also attacked during March in Mexico City.

"Well, unfortunately, I think this is a reflection on Mexican culture," computer systems engineering senior Francisco Felix says. "Mexico is a very Catholic, socially-conservative country when it comes to these things."

Felix is referring to the gender-blending that is associated with the emo style.

"As wrong as it may be, the emo culture in Mexico is associated with homosexuality," Felix says. "Therefore, the rockers act violently toward the emos because of their perceived homosexuality."

The problem is believed to have been started by the TV personality, Kristoff. On the Telehit channel, Kristoff fumed over emo kids and their lifestyle. He claimed the lifestyle to be worthless and only good for young girls with relentless crushes on the lead singers of these emo bands.

Maybe the punks and metalheads have a right to be angry or, "maybe they're all just a bunch of losers that have nothing better to do and be haters," Felix says.

— laurencusimano@asu.edu