Skinheads - who are they? Skinheads (subculture)

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Recently, more and more often we hear about skinheads. They are talked about on TV screens, described in newspapers and magazines. And in such a huge amount of information it is very difficult to understand, to find a real answer to the question "skinheads - who are they?". Are they dangerous to society? What are their main values in life? Let's try to answer these questions together today.

What is a subculture

Representatives of a certain youth subculture are teenagers who dress in a peculiar way, listen to certain music, have their own jargon. They have their own pattern of behavior. They always arise spontaneously and, most often, they try to oppose themselves to the older generation.

Representatives of subcultures are not always aggressive, cruel, etc. The fact is that with a closer acquaintance with serious publications and books about skinheads, there is an understanding that the picture drawn in our imagination by the media is very far from reality.

Skinheads are a subculture that arose spontaneously

The very word "skinhead" came to us from the English language. Translated, it means "bald head" ("skin head"). At first, Western youth became interested in this direction. Over time, teenagers from other countries also joined the movement, as a result, it spread throughout the world. Already in the sixties of the last century, everyone knew who skinheads were. The subculture continues to exist to this day. It is worth noting that the subculture, as such, is neither an ideological nor a political organization. Only in rare cases can it be associated with any movement or party.

Russian skinheads

Today this subculture is very popular in our country. Skinheads first appeared in Russia in 1991. They were students of Moscow technical schools and vocational schools, teenagers living in the sleeping areas of the capital and Leningrad.

Do Russian skinheads differ from Western ones? Who is it? Ordinary youth united spontaneously? Not really. Despite the fact that in our country the economic crisis was even worse than in England after the war, the skinhead movement in Russia did not appear naturally. Our teenagers were greatly influenced by Western mass culture. This just explains why the offspring of ordinary locksmiths and electricians sported suspenders and dockers' boots from England.

Russian skinheads are different in some ways. A subculture that's western-influenced makes 'em screamabout his people and country in foreign languages, waving American Confederate and German flags. True, this is done by representatives of one of the subspecies of this subculture - bonheads.

Skin directions

Like any other, this youth subculture has several directions. Skinheads are different. There are red skins that have their own website and even have their own magazine called Blasted Sky. A separate direction is anti-fascist skins. Representatives of this movement even guarded the concerts of rap artists, whom neo-Nazis consider their sworn enemies. Such an event is called skin security.

However, practically no one knows about the various directions of this subculture, very little is said about them. Television announcers, journalists, publicists, everyone who likes to discuss fascism, neo-Nazism and racism, prefer not to mention that there are anti-fascist skins. Therefore, in Russia (and in the West too) the most famous are bonheads.

Bonheads in Russia

So, everyone knows skinheads. Who are they and why are they being talked about in all the media? The whole demeanor and style of their life is copied from Western models. They dress and look at life the same as their Western counterparts, listen to the same music and prioritize the same values in life. However, there is still a difference. Skinheads (bonheads) in Russia refer to the Aryan nations not only the American Anglo-Saxon white people and European peoples, butand Slavic peoples (primarily Russians).

It is worth noting that Russian skinheads are seriously mistaken. The subculture in Europe is different from ours. In other countries, skinheads do not agree at all that Russians can be attributed to the Aryan nation. After all, we are “racially inferior” to them.

However, both Western and Russian bonheads are under the care of other, "adult" organizations. They are skillfully controlled by representatives of the ultra-right and neo-Nazi movements.

Appearance

Any subculture has its external differences. Skinheads, whose appearance is sometimes scary, just follow certain traditions. This is how, by their standards, a real skin should look like:

1. A real Aryan with blond hair, a straight thin nose and gray eyes. Of course, there may be slight deviations from the main type. For example, the eyes can be light brown or blue, or the hair is slightly darker than light blond. However, the general background should be preserved.
2. The head must be completely shaved or cut very short. Their hairstyles are not like the hairstyles of bandits or policemen. The skinhead has the same length of hair all over the head. Bangs, strands, etc. are not allowed. The main purpose of such a hairstyle is to prevent the enemy from grabbing your hair in a fight.
3. Almost 100% of skinheads are thin. It is simply impossible to meet an obese member of this subculture.
4. Wear only functional clothes. First of all, skinheadsrecognizable by high army boots. Preference is given to the famous "Grinders". Such shoes serve as a kind of weapon. Sometimes they wear camouflage pants, but more often they prefer black skinny jeans tucked up to their boots. The belts have heavy buckles. Some guys wear suspenders. The jackets are black, made of slippery fabric, without a collar.
5. On a skinhead you will never see baubles, chains on the neck, piercings. Even if a guy puts on a swastika pendant, you should know that this is not a real representative of the skinhead subculture. In this form, he is no longer a fighter. Not to mention it's hard to get into a fight when your ears, lips, nose, etc. are pierced.
6. A real skinhead doesn't drink, doesn't smoke and will never use drugs. Meanwhile, skinheads often adorn bare skulls and whiskey with aggressive tattoos

These are the main signs of a representative of this subculture. Something may vary, but in small, insignificant details.