My family hate emo?

So what? I'm a 20 year old dude and I wear black eyeliner and black nail polish. My hair is long and black and has some red streaks in it. I wear black shirts (band ones usually, along with joke ones) and black jeans all the time along with a black and white checkerboard belt. I like bullet belts and spike bracelets too. I enjoy almost every form of metal music and wear the fashion (I add some of my own too). It's a stereotype that metalheads are angry, troubled people when I am in fact a happy person with a good background. I've been like this since high school and I don't think this is a phase at all. If you genuinely enjoy the music and fashion, then that's just great :)

Yeah, so you're going to be dressing like this when you're 40?

It's not who you are, it's just a phase because you like the style. All "emos" do is give people with real problems a bad name, because suddenly it's "popular" to have "problems" and "depression" and whatnot.

this whole emo thing is an adolescent phase, it's not who you are or a lifestyle. yea, that "style" feels good now, but once you're like 20 years old, you'll have slipped out of it by then and you'll feel really weird when you look back and say "wow that used to be me."
seriously the phase will wear off. even those slutty scene whores on myspace and facebook who have like 7000 friends, and dye their bangs like a raccoon tail, they will grow out of it too. so why even continue with it when you know it won't last forever?
just drop it now and save your dignity, and you'll get your parents respect back. i know it's hard, but if you really care about what your parents think..well that should motivate you.

Im into the whole alternative style. It better that you call it this so people won't stereotype you. I've been this way since I was 10 too. I don't think I'll ever grow out of it. It's not just a phase.

Emo is outdated, I remember thinking it was cool when I was in like the sixth grade. I'm now a senior and looking back I realize I looked like a complete weirdo back then.

Just listen to your parents, they probably think you look really odd and are drawing negative attention to yourself. I definitely know that when I see someone at the mall wearing crazy clothes and has their hair a million different colors, people stare and think to themselves that this child is probably desperate crying out for attention.

No parent wants their kid to get weird looks, they're probably just looking out for you.