Since I know there are a few Australians active here, and because we are a much-misunderstood nation, let's start the AMA "Ask a ____" series with the folks Down Under
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Ahhh these would be lovingly referred to as bogans. I have probably met equally racist/sexist people from UK/North America but bogans, once fueled with alcohol are certainly *ahem* noticeable.
In terms of sexism, no more so than UK/NA, and possibly even less so in many respects.
Racism is more difficult, it's sort of our Janus face. On the one hand, there is an immense cultural diversity, especially in the cities, that is often celebrated and considered an important part of modern Australian identity. However, there has always been a strong undercurrent of racism that was encouraged and fed through official policies from Federation through to 1973 known broadly as the White Australia Policy. Over a decade of the Howard government (1996-2007) helped to flame old (and some new) prejudices through their nationalistic, populist, lowest common denominator style of leadership which has resulted in it somehow now being okay (and even admirable) to be openly racist again.
As, as is often the case in the New World, the indigenous people are always the worst off.
It is much like anywhere else. It has a lot to do with how a person was brought up, where they were brought up and when. Because Australia had the White Australia Policy up until very recently there is still a lot of lingering hatred for those who are not white. There is also a lot of negativity towards Aboriginal people and the word nigger gets thrown around...a lot. I have found this much more in small towns and rural areas though and not so much in the cities.
Because I live and work in a small town I come face to face with this every day. Much more so than I ever did living in Canada (and I lived my primary and high school years in a small town). Australia is still relatively new even compared to Canada so it is going to take some time for all of that crap to go away.
I think it depends on the state/city. Down in Melbourne and Sydney, people tend to be quite open-minded and diverse. Up here where I live, it's absolutely disgusting. I've never seen so much racism in my life. Homophobia's probably the worst, though.
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Racism is more difficult, it's sort of our Janus face. On the one hand, there is an immense cultural diversity, especially in the cities, that is often celebrated and considered an important part of modern Australian identity. However, there has always been a strong undercurrent of racism that was encouraged and fed through official policies from Federation through to 1973 known broadly as the White Australia Policy. Over a decade of the Howard government (1996-2007) helped to flame old (and some new) prejudices through their nationalistic, populist, lowest common denominator style of leadership which has resulted in it somehow now being okay (and even admirable) to be openly racist again.
As, as is often the case in the New World, the indigenous people are always the worst off.
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Because I live and work in a small town I come face to face with this every day. Much more so than I ever did living in Canada (and I lived my primary and high school years in a small town). Australia is still relatively new even compared to Canada so it is going to take some time for all of that crap to go away.
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