Straight Edge

By Nicole Weber

"I'm a person just like you But I've got better things to do Than sit around and f*** my head Hang out with the living dead Snort white s***up my nose Pass out at the shows I don't even think about speed That's something I just don't need I've got the straight edge,” are lyrics from the song “Straight Edge,” by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.

No smoking, no drugs, no alcohol, that’s is the lifestyle of those who are “Straight Edge”. The “Straight Edge” lifestyle is claimed to have started around the late 70s, and early 80s with the birth of punk and hardcore, though many do not associate the term “Straight Edge” with any type of music.

American culture and society plays into substances as thrill seekers as the only things that can allow you to have a good time. Music, magazines, advertisements -substances can be seen everywhere and for a reason –people act a certain way and attract certain people when ‘under the influence’ of such substances. People exposed in the media are shown having a good time when being under the influence. Celebrities are known for who can party the hardest and we all try to be like them. So why would people not want to do drugs?

“Basically [drugs] have a lot of influence on people’s mind,” Kristofer Fiore says. “My mind is something that no one can take away unless under the influence,” Fiore says.

Straight Edge” is not to be confused with Buddhism, though people who live a “Straight Edge” lifestyle may also live a Buddhist lifestyle. Buddhism is a lifestyle, as well as a religion to some people. Buddhism is the pursuit to prevent suffering from one’s life, whether that means taking steps like cutting drugs and alcohol out of your own life or not. People who are straight edge can be any religion or not religious at all.

Oluwatobi Balogun-Kuku, says she did not decide to live a “Straight Edge” lifestyle because of religion, but decided to do so as a moral decision of her own. “[Experimenting with drugs] doesn’t fascinate me at all,” Balogun-Kuku says.

XXX, or sXe are actually abbreviations for “Straight Edge”. As “Straight Edge” was starting to be ‘born’ people started to wear X’s on the top of their hands. “Straight Edge” going against society took a symbol used to mark people who are under aged as a symbol of their own.

As all concepts do, “Straight Edge” has grown into more than a sterile lifestyle. Some people decided to partner music and fashion with the lifestyle. Other people decide to be vegetarian or even vegans. According to toefur-straightedge’s website, “Straight edge ethics are a choice made on a personal level, for instance some people choose a vegan life style aswell, some choose to not ingest caffeine, some abstain from as many legal medicalized drugs as possible, ie, Asprin”. People have taken the concept and molded it into something of their own.

Many people have different reasons for being “Straight Edge”, but here are just a few people’s personal reasons:

Family influence & learning from other people’s mistakes

“A few people in my family grew up in a pretty bad condition. Their parents were big users and alcoholics, so knowing people in those conditions I didn’t want to remind them [of their past], or become one [a user],” Ronnie Garcia says.

Personal expense

Katie Shepard says, “I didn’t want to waste money, and a lot of people in my family are alcoholics. Also it’s not healthy to smoke.”

Keeping focus and Environment

“It came to me on the right track and it keeps me focused,” says Patrick Stewart about being “Straight Edge”. “Most of my friends and people around me are too,” Stewart says.

The “Straight Edge” lifestyle is not a cult though, and it should not be confused with one. People who are “Straight Edge” don’t go around preaching that other people should be “Straight Edge”. [Being “Straight Edge”] “is not successful unless you’re already feeling it,” Fiore says.

“It’s people’s personal choice, but if I had my way I would want more people to be [“Straight Edge]. Why not, so many bad things happen and are blamed on drugs and alcohol,” says Balogun-Kuku.

“It would be ignorant to say other people should be it. People should do what ever works for them,” Garcia says.