Alternative lifestyles

An alternative lifestyle is a lifestyle diverse in respect to mainstream ones, or generally perceived to be outside the cultural norm. Lifestyle is a media culture term derived from the concept of style in art. Usually, but not always, it implies an affinity or identification within some matching subculture (e.g. hippies, goths and punks). Some people with alternative lifestyles mix elements from various subcultures (grunge musicians were often influenced by a mixture of the punk, hippie, emo and heavy metal subcultures).

Not all minority lifestyles are held to be "alternative", so the term tends to apply to newer forms of lifestyle, often based upon enlarged freedoms (especially in the sphere of social styles), or a decision to substitute another approach, or to not follow the usual expected path in most societies.

Alternative lifestyles and subcultures originated in the 1920s with the "flapper" movement, when women cut their hair and skirts short (as a symbol of freedom from oppression and the old way of living). Women in the flapper age were the first large group of females to practice pre-marital sex, dancing, cursing, and driving in modern America without scandal following them. This was because this new flapper lifestyle was so popular that the flapper's brash behavior became more normal than previously thought.

A Stanford University cooperative house, Synergy, was founded in 1972 with the theme of "exploring alternative lifestyles."

The following are examples which may be considered by some to be alternative lifestyles:

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