One of the most complicated things about the straight-edge community is that there is no set definition to describe it.

Straight-edge people often disagree with each other about the specific principles.

‘The three basic rules that everyone has to follow in the straight-edge community are that there is no drinking, no drugs and no promiscuous sex,’ said Kelly Gorga, a freshman psychology major. She added that smoking cigarettes is included in not doing drugs.

Gorga said that the definition was very flexible.

‘People take it whatever way they want to,’ she said. ‘It depends on how straight edge you want to be. Some people don’t do prescription drugs or drink caffeine.’

Brandy Clayton, a hairdresser in Syracuse, said those who choose to go this extreme are called ‘hard-line’ straight edge.

‘If you have a cold, you deal with it; if you have pneumonia, you better hope to God it gets better. (People who are) hard-line don’t take medication … not even cough drops,’ she said.

No substances are allowed whatsoever because they affect your body, said Tony Nocella, a graduate student in Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Most people who claim straight edge are not this strict. One of the biggest discussions about straight-edge morality revolves around sex and sexual activity.

‘There are different interpretations of the last part,’ said Andy Suehnholz, a junior finance and marketing major. ‘Some people say abstinence, some people say no sex without love, some say chastity. It gets fuzzy.’

Andy Testo, a senior forest resource management major in State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said though he does engage in sexual activity, he is not promiscuous.

‘I don’t interpret the definition to mean abstinence,’ Testo said. ‘Not having sex in moderation is a drug, and it has consequences such as emotional and physical things that can scar you for life.’

Clayton said that promiscuity seems to be a thing of the past.

‘No one really pays attention to it anymore,’ she said.

X-ing up

‘X-ing up’ is a marker for the straight-edge community. Gorga said the practice of X-ing up comes from the period of time where minors were marked with X’s on their hands so they couldn’t buy alcohol at punk rock shows. Straight-edge people who were of age began to rock the ‘X’ to symbolize their alcohol and drug-free decisions.

A more dated symbol, ‘sXe,’ came about when the band Minor Threat coined the term ‘straight edge’ in 1981 with their song ‘Out of Step,’ Testo said. The lyrics tell listeners, ‘don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t fuck … out of step with the world.’

‘That’s the first song I ever heard that got me to understand what straight edge was,’ said Greg Simon, a freshman political science major.

Though hardcore music is an important part of the straight-edge community, Clayton warns that not everyone in the hardcore music scene is straight edge. Likewise, not everyone in the straight-edge community is interested in hardcore music.

‘I would like to say that straight edge is not exclusive to hardcore,’ Testo said. ‘It’s in world music, in the hip-hop scene and it’s in techno. There are artists and musicians everywhere.’

Other markers for the straight-edge community are tattoos and piercings, Testo said.

‘Tattoos don’t really hurt or hinder you. It’s not harming you or your inhibitions as a human being. The reason I believe straight-edge people do tattooing is because it’s something that people do as a commitment,’ Suehnholz said. ‘Tattoos are with you until death, and it’s the same concept for being straight edge.’

Where One Fits

While many people can say they don’t use drugs or alcohol, this concept is different from being straight edge.

‘I think you take pride in it. If you don’t claim it, you can do whatever. If you want to drink, you can. But if you’re straight edge, obviously you don’t want it, but you’re not going to do it because you’re straight edge,’ Clayton said about the difference.

‘It’s almost a sense of community,’ said Dan Bolster, a junior attending Cicero-North Syracuse High School. ‘Even today, I went to … Borders and I saw this guy that had S’s on his hands and I knew he was straight edge.’

Billy Pruz, a senior social work major, noted that the concepts of promiscuity, being hard-line and animal and Earth liberation are all people’s own adaptations of the basic straight edge definition. A person interested in these concepts is not necessarily straight edge, and someone who is straight edge is not expected to take part in these practices.

Making and Breaking Commitments

By far the most controversial discussion was about ‘breaking edge.’ Breaking edge is when a straight-edge person breaks their commitment to abstain from alcohol, drugs and promiscuous sex.

‘You can almost put people who stopped being edge in two groups … (some people) might just have a drink and that’s it,’ said Aaron Siegel, freshman art photography major. ‘The people who completely turn their back on (straight edge) often go out and do everything from smoking to getting drunk to shooting up.’

‘Usually when they fall of the wagon, they fall off hard,’ Clayton said.

Testo said many people end up breaking edge because they started as 15 or 16-year-olds who didn’t think about the lifetime commitment. Testo commented that bands such as Youth of Today sometimes strongly preach the straight-edge messages and then break edge, discrediting the movement. This latter idea proves the point of people breaking edge because their heroes are doing the same thing.

Others find that they’re more comfortable in their decisions because they have seen the other side of the story.

‘I’m extremely uncomfortable around it. It’s not the fact that I don’t care for the alcohol that they serve, it’s that I don’t know the people there and I don’t know what they’re like when they’re drunk,’ said Ryan Clayton, an assistant manager at EB Games in the Syracuse area. ‘I’ve seen drunken people randomly start fights with people because they’re drunk and I don’t prefer to be around that. I’ve chosen not to make it a part of my life.’

‘What I don’t understand is why it’s such a big deal not to drink,’ Brandy Clayton said. She said that when she and Ryan got married, they planned not to have alcohol at their wedding.

‘We were going to have a toast, but not with alcohol. People said they weren’t going to go because we weren’t serving alcohol,’ she said.

Ryan Clayton noted the decision wasn’t based on their being straight edge as much as it was about making sure the people he cared about weren’t in danger.

‘I didn’t want someone dying on my wedding day,’ added Brandy Clayton.

Even in light of confrontation and misunderstanding between members of the straight community and the outside world, devout followers remain confident in their beliefs.

‘I care about the people who endanger other people’s lives. That’s really my biggest pet peeve: people who won’t take their family and the people that matter (in their lives) into consideration when they make their choice,’ Ryan Clayton said.

Brandy Clayton agrees; she said she doesn’t get angry with the people that choose to use substances, as long as they’re responsible. Clayton pans back to the memory of her mother, who was addicted to painkillers and other substances. Having watched what happened to her mother is a reason that keeps Brandy Clayton substance-free.

‘Straight edge is like a religion. That’s how much it means to me,’ she said.

Published on March 20, 2006 at 12:00 pm