Feral (subculture)

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The term "feral" is usually used to refer to a domesticated animal which has returned to the wild[1]. In Australian slang, a "feral" refers to a suburban-dwelling poor person who is perceived as being uneducated, unskilled or dependent on social security benefits. Certain modes of dress and speech are strongly associated with being a feral. Similar terms in other countries are chav in the United Kingdom, or white trash in North America.

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[edit] Typical Usage

Ferals are perceived as being low in the stratum of Australian society, lower than the roughly equivalent bogan/bevan/westy. They typically live in cheap houses, usually situated in the outer suburbs where employment is low, or ex-industrial suburbs that are yet to go through urban renewal.

People in urban areas do not usually associate them with the rural poor perhaps due to the traditionally idealist views which surround "The Bush" and its rural inhabitants.

Their speech is characterized by an excess of the normal Australian tendency to roll successive syllables into one continuous diphthong as well as a broad, nasal drawl.

In sharp contrast to other pejorative labels such as redneck or nigger, very few if any people identify themselves as "ferals" out of a sense or ironic or counter-cultural pride. Adjacent residents of caravan parks will freely lambaste each other as "ferals" without any attempt at conscious irony.

The label frequently functions as an adjective usually in the context of a pejorative insult commonly exchanged between females. "You feral mole" is something akin to calling someone a slut and does not necessarily require that the recipient be lower-class.

Certain suburbs are associated with having significant populations of ferals. Macquarie Fields and Mount Druitt near Sydney are identified as such as are Caboolture, Ipswich and Inala in Brisbane. In Melbourne, suburbs such as Broadmeadows are often associated with "westys".

[edit] Left Wing Ferals

Often people living alternative lifestyles or who are associated with radical left wing politics are also called "feral" even if they are educated or moderate to high earning people. Right wing tabloid columnists often deride "the feral Left" or the "feral Greens", perhaps to reserve an extra layer of vitriol for those to the left of even the lesser-hated-but-still-reviled centre-Left chattering classes and chardonnay socialists.

[edit] Ferals in the Daintree

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In the town of Cairns, a segment of the population simply lives in the Daintree rain forest either on freehold blocks or squatting. Cairns is tropical and tropical fruit is available wild all year round.

Australian Aboriginals, even if they live a native lifestyle (for example, not owning property), are not often referred to as ferals. The term applies generally to non-aboriginal persons.

[edit] Feral as Alternative Lifestyle

During the early 1990's, the term "feral" was used in the Australian media to describe a distinct subculture which combined elements of the punk and hippie counter-cultural movements. The "feral movement" could be seen as the Australian equivalent to the European New age travellers. The feral movement adopted the disparaging moniker "feral" in a similar way that the counter-culture of a decade earlier had adopted the punk label. The typical image of a feral as a person with dreadlocks and dirty homemade clothes came out of the movements' association with the hardcore environmental movement. The earliest ferals were inner-city punks and squatters who attended environmental blockades, often in remote and inaccessible areas of the bush. As a result, washing of clothes was a difficult task and filthy clothes later came to be a symbol of attachment to the subculture, a mark of defiance against consumerist culture. The feral ideology is influenced by Neo-Tribalism, Neo-primitivism, anarchism and environmentalism. Early feral fashion was also influenced by post-apocalyptic depictions of the future current at the time, particularly the Mad Max films. A number of bands are associated with the feral movement, such as the folk/punk band Mutiny, the John Butler Trio, and the band/collective/cult Mutation Parlour [1].

These ferals often have untethered hair (impromptu dreadlocks), are unwashed, and wear an assortment of torn, aged, although sometimes colorful, clothes. Their social system is based upon the following practices and philosophies: environmentalism (usually radical), refusal of most property systems founded on tenure or ownership (often resulting in nomadism and/or squatting), Marijuana-smoking, and suspicion of non-ferals.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/feral