What is Punk?

Punk is a set of ideas about power and mainstream life. We can look at it through how it rejects normality and laughs at the way the world works today. Punk can be both a way of life, and a music genre, however it wasn't a music genre till the 1960's. Funnily enough, in the 1920's a Punk was an inmate in jail who would have anal intercourse with another inmate. I guess this is the starting point for how we can see a Punk as being someone different, oppositional and alternative. Punk fashion is a major part of a punk’s life. We see lots of black ripped clothing mixed with colours that seem to be so bright and so fake they look plastic, like highlighter pinks, greens etc. There is a lot of metal within their clothes, for example the safety-pin and this was originally known as "The Clash Look". Although the safety pin frenzy started out as being something to literally hold their ripped clothes together and as "making something fresh out of new stock" (The Clash), it has now become a symbol of their rebellion against normality. All these extra accessories make a statement about the way they chose to live their lives, for example, the dog collar, piercing, tattoos etc. Generally Punk as a genre is visual culture, whether its photography, fashion or the way their music sounds and is represented. It is a negation and transformation of everyday life, like they're giving the world a big fat middle finger, showing that the world is f**ked and that they don't care about the norms that they should be conforming to. Although they claim to be authentic through their rebellion, I think there is a lot to question about their authenticity. If it was so authentic, why is their fashion so false and ready made these days?