Interesting. I've recently got a little bit into Steampunkery after making some costume pieces for Whitby. I wouldn't claim to be particularly knowledgeable about the genre, but I don't really think it's any more sinister than goths dressing up as Victorian gents or medieval princesses. You can ask the same questions that Forthwritten asks in her essay above - where are the syphilitic child-whores among the Vicky-goths? Where are the horny-handed serfs among the knights and ladies?
And actually to an extent I think steampunk does this better - not everyone is a nobleman or a lady adventurer. There's no shame in being the cabin boy on the pirate airship, or the greasemonkey on the submarine. (My own developing steampunk 'character' is a little subversive, in fact - a spy/mercenary who's brought herself up from poor beginnings with intelligence and deviousness, attended by a non-too-bright but burly ex-army chap of shadowy but undoubtedly aristocratic origins - that'd be d_floorlandmine).
I'm sure there are some right-wing elements with dreams of empire, but then I've encountered that in other subcultures too - including goth, punk and SF.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-05-09 08:30 am (UTC)And actually to an extent I think steampunk does this better - not everyone is a nobleman or a lady adventurer. There's no shame in being the cabin boy on the pirate airship, or the greasemonkey on the submarine. (My own developing steampunk 'character' is a little subversive, in fact - a spy/mercenary who's brought herself up from poor beginnings with intelligence and deviousness, attended by a non-too-bright but burly ex-army chap of shadowy but undoubtedly aristocratic origins - that'd be
I'm sure there are some right-wing elements with dreams of empire, but then I've encountered that in other subcultures too - including goth, punk and SF.