Alternative lifestyle

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Alternative lifestyle

An alternative lifestyle, or unconventional lifestyle, means living in a way that is seen as different from the culture’s normal expectations. It can refer to a person’s daily routines, communities, beliefs, or relationships. The term is often used with judgement, but it also describes real choices that people make.

History
- The idea of alternative lifestyles came into focus in the United States in the 1920s with the flapper movement. Women cut their hair and wore shorter skirts as symbols of freedom and new ways of living, which challenged old rules about behavior.
- In the 1970s, the term was widely used by the press as a gentler label for homosexuality and for hippies, groups seen as challenging the social order.

Examples of alternative lifestyles (not a complete list)
- Housing and communities: co-housing and intentional communities; ecovillages; off-the-grid living; communes; tiny houses; housetruckers.
- Family and parenting: homeschooling; coparenting; home births.
- Diet and environment: veganism; freeganism; raw foodism.
- Travel and living: lifestyle travelers; digital nomads; New Age travelers.
- Subcultures and arts: Bohemianism; punk; goth; steampunk; hippies; vampire lifestyle.
- Body and appearance: body modification such as tattoos and piercings; eye tattooing; scarification; ear or genital stretching; transdermal implants; nudism and clothing-optional living.
- Sexuality and gender: non-normative sexual lifestyles and gender-based subcultures, including LGBT culture; BDSM; cross-dressing; polyamory; swinging; cruising; roleplay.
- Religion and spirituality: communities such as Freemasons, Ordo Templi Orientis, Thelema, modern pagans, Satanists, and New Age groups.
- Traditional minorities and simple living: Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, Bruderhof; ultra-Orthodox Jews; neo-Luddites.
- Arts and crafts: pursuing music, visual arts, or performance; crafting clothing through thrifting or making pieces.

See also
- Alternative culture
- Alternative housing
- Intentional living
- Lebensreform
- Straight edge
- Teetotalism
- Underground culture