Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2018: Week 10

Feral is a fandom term originating in the early 1990s, which was used to describe a fan who discovered fandom (usually media fandom) independently, without being introduced by a “gatekeeper” (a more experienced fan).

The term is representative of a shift in fandom behaviour between the 1960s and 1970s, during which discovering fandom on one’s own was normal, and the 1980s and 1990s, in which newcomers to fandom needed to be initiated by a member of the community.

The use of the term “feral” to describe fans has been controversial, with fans objecting to the term’s implications and the “us vs them” attitude that it fosters. However, other fans considered it an important distinction to make, between fans who understood the accepted social codes of fannish communities, and those who didn’t. Still others have reclaimed the term, and are proud of their feral origins.