abstaining from alcohol, smoking and recreational drug use.Some adherents may also abstain from caffeine and promiscuity.

Straight edge is basically living a clean life without drugs, drinking and casual sex. It's living a poison free and keeping yourself safe. It is a choice and it does not make you better or worse than anyone. We all make choices and some choose to be straight edge and some don't. Yes, it's true that some people will stop being sXe when they turn 21 but that is just another choice. Straight Edge is a way of life but has now been formed into a trend. Out there, there are true edgers.

Originated from the punkrock/hardcore scene. The philosophy/life-choice that humans should have strength, pride, dignity, honor, and self respect; that they shouldn't engage in activities that are a disgrace to their minds and bodies. (such as ingesting and/or becoming addicted to harmful substances for fun, lying and/or being two-faced, and sharing your body sexually with another person when there isn't even a true emotional bond there)

A board, or piece of wood or metal, having one edge perfectly straight, used to ascertain whether a line is straight or a surface even, and for drawing straight lines.

The term originates from a song by "Minor Threat" putting forth the value of a clear mind and a healthy body.

Times as they are, there are now three kinds of sXe'rs.

1. Those who understand what it means. People who value clarity and wish to avoid altered states of perception, poisoning the body, or unsettling the mind. No drugs, some even avoid medicinal drugs as these can alter state of mind. No drinking to excess, as this can alter the mind and poison the body. No promiscuous sex, you got me on this one. These people are, 99% of the time, decent people who see their choices for what they are, choices, nothing more, nothing less.

2. Insecure gits. People who wish to place themselves on a self appointedly superior moral platform, then proceed to brag about how much better they are than everyone else. No drugs. No drink. No Promiscuous sex. No meat. No/very few friends, as few other than those who share their views can stand to be around them for more than ten minutes without driving a lit candle, wick first, into their eye, and injecting them with lighter fluid through the ear.

3. Hardliners. All the stupidity of number two, with knuckledusters. No drugs. No drink. No promiscuous sex. No meat 9 times out of ten. All the clarity with none of the intelligence.

If you're really straight edge, you don't need to go telling everyone about it, it's something you do for YOURSELF. 99% of the morons with X's on their hands are posers/scenesters obsessed with fashioncore.

This covers a broad range of people, all of whom voluntarily choose not to take drugs, drink or engage in promiscuous sexual behavior. Other options include abstaining from caffeine, meat, etc. There are a few kinds of sXe'rs in my opinion.

1) Committed people honestly dedicated to keeping their body clean of all toxins for life. While I couldn't live your extremely pure lifestyle, I fully respect your choice to do so, more power to you.

2) Scenester kids who think because sXe is underground it automatically becomes "cool" and start wearing bandannas and the "X" on their hands. Even though I'm not sXe personally, speaking on behalf of friends who are, when you don't make a commitment to the philosophy, you just seem foolish.

3) Hardliners, the people who follow the philosophy to the letter, but more importantly will engage in mass ass-kicking of anyone who doesn't. Now, here's where my disagreement comes into play towards the hardliners. If you want to stay pure as possible, good for you, but for you to harass or assault anyone having a beer responsibly or eating a hamburger for pete's sake, you're a fucking idiot. Case closed.

4) Elitists, the people who honestly believe that because they are sXe, they are automatically better than people who aren't. Listen up elitist fools, (and especially the one who called me evil this past weekend for having 1 beer at a restaurant) whether you want to believe it or not, you're human just as we all are, and just because you keep yourself pure does NOT make you "better" than other people. Real sXe'rs dislike you because your high and mighty attitude discredits their philosophy, as well they should.

As said previously, this is an idea mainly thought to be coined by Minor Threat (thus being an offshoot of punk/hardcore).
Their song Straight Edge outlines their lifestyle that they choose to live... I've been told it was their drummer who was using a ruler to draw a poster and noted that the ruler's straight edge was a metaphor for their lifestyles...
The basic outline of straight edge is, as said before, not wanting to or taking part in:
Drinking (or any mind effecting drugs)
Smoking
Casual sex (without a loving relationship)

This is just a simple guideline of what the LIFESTYLE of an edge person is. It can be built upon with vegan/vegetarianism, no caffeine and other choices that keep your body poison free.
An X can be worn on the hands of people who are edge, along with stating poison free, straight edge can be abbreviated to sXe. The X on the hand is because at punk/hardcore gigs, an X was drawn on the hands of minors so that they would not get served at the bar. With this movement people started putting Xs on their hands to show that they did not want to drink.
The idea of straight edge is not to poison the mind and body with anything that is bad for it, this, to me includes being a general bastard to people… For me its being the best person you can be.

We are not boring people, I choose not to drink, it doesn't mean I can’t have fun, or go to parties, I just have fun while knowing what I’m doing and remembering.
Straight edge should unite people and not turn into a gang who discriminate against people who do poison their bodies... It's their choice, let them live with it, I don’t look down on people who aren’t edge.

The definition of straight edge is a set of guidelines established in the 1980's in Washington D.C., by a band called Minor Threat, a punk band that created the "straight edge" movement. Ian Mackaye was one of the founding fathers in this movement. Minor Threat's song "Straight Edge," really opened the eyes of young people. Straight Edge is a set of guidelines, not rules, that focuses on refraining from casual sex, drug use and drinking. This was very popular in the 1980's, and soon began to spread around the United States and is still being practiced to this day. You can usually tell that a person is "straight edge" by a large visible X on either attire or body. Many people will claim to be straight edge, but don't be fooled. Many people that are truly "straight edge" don't go around bragging about it.