Love, angst, poetry - profile of an ordinary teen
Kylie Northover
April 23, 2007
Page 1 of 2
While mystery surrounds the apparent suicide pact of Melbourne teenagers Stephanie Gestier and Jodie Gater, attempts to blame the 'emo' subculture - based on overtly emotional and angst-ridden rock and its punk-gothic fashion - appear baseless.
Most of the music references on Jodie's page are to rap and R&B artists, including Beyonce and the Black Eyed Peas, as well as goth-rocker Marilyn Manson and My Chemical Romance, currently one of the most popular "emo" bands in the world.
And while the girls' fashion borrows heavily from the goth music scene - such as fishnet tights, black clothing and asymetrical hair styles - there appears little that's unavailable in your average suburban shopping centre.
The suggestion that the girls were immersed in a dark subculture that could have contributed to their decision has also angered some of their friends, many of whom are posting tributes and comments on the social networking site MySpace.
A message on a MySpace page belonging to 'Loz Havok' dismisses the descriptions of the girls, who were her friends, as 'emo'.
Her entry for today reads:
"Yep, well it's all over the f--king news. Steph & Jodie have killed themselves. But they are making out that Steph and Jodie were mental weird cult-crazy girls that were into 'dark suicide cult' sites; bullocks (sic), not at all. I personally only knew Steph, but had talked with Jodie before...
"All the news channels keep repeating the same bullshit about them. 'The two girls were into suicide cults, they were into a subculture group called emo, which is a new stylish genre of music'. F--k no; Steph hated 'stereotypical emo' and loved Mr. Mansonn (sic) & Blink 182. And as for Jodie, well she listened to rap & pop. Emo my ass.
"All the news is f--king pissing me off. I have one favour for you all: guys, could you please leave a comment here, just saying a little a message. I don't care if you didn't know either of them, but pleaseeee just write a little comment or something. Greatly appreciated guys. <3
RIP Steph baby & Jodie. I love you two forever."
Fears internet held key to disappearance
Last week Jodie's father, who made a public appeal for information about the girls, said he feared the internet could hold the key to their disappearance.
But aside from a couple of cryptic statements, Jodie's MySpace page doesn't differ from the profiles of hundreds of other teens.
The Age newspaper, more