What is an Eshay: Warning signs parents should look out for

With parents worried about the rise of the eshay culture, we have compiled an explainer, so you know what to look out for.

Eshays: These teens brag about taking drugs and posting images and videos on social media. Picture: A Current Affair.

Parents fear an increasing number of teenagers in middle class areas are dressing and acting like eshays, a term first coined in the 1980s to describe lower class youths in public housing who intimidate, rob and boast about drug use.

The subculture was originally influenced by a similar cohort in the UK labelled ‘chavs’, a derogatory term for young, yobbish, white people from poor backgrounds who wore real or fake Burberry designer labels and relied on government handouts and crime to pay for their lifestyle.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy is an ex-cop who says eshay influencers on social media are posting about their crimes. Pic by Richard Gosling

The term eshay has become well established in Australia in recent years, influenced heavily by Aussie hip hop in the early 2000s and given exposure via social media.

Rap group Sydney Serchaz’s track F***en Oath was named last year as the most iconic eshay song of all time by Red Bull.

Also known as lads, eshays are most easily identified by their uniform of designer and sportswear labels, bum bags they wear over their shoulders and their own pig Latin language they’ve developed.

They sometimes carry weapons and use crime to fund their drug use, often videoing and posting their antics on Tik Tok or other social media channels.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University, a former detective inspector for 28 years, said eshays have risen to prominence over the last seven years or so, most likely due to social media.

“Like any subculture there are influencers on social media,” he said.

“It’s monkey see, monkey do.

“A few years ago I’d never heard the term eshay, but I think social media has something to do with it.

“Eshays use it to highlight their robberies, assaults and drug use.”

Dr Goldsworthy said reasons why children may get involved in criminal behaviour is most likely due to their home life, whether they have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, or drug or alcohol abuse, or they could be suffering from a lack of self-esteem.

He said sometimes it’s just a matter of wanting to belong to something and to be able to identify as being part of a group.

This week parents on the northern beaches, considered a relatively wealthy area of Sydney where the average house price is around $1.4m, voiced concerns about the rise of antisocial behaviour among youths and kids apparently dressed like eshays.

This is despite the latest crime figures showing that youth crime is going down in NSW.

Supt Patrick Sharkey, in charge of the Northern Beaches Local Area Command, said in response to the fears that officers had been proactive at tackling antisocial behaviour during the school holidays and urged parents to “take an active interest in knowing where your children are, what they are doing and who they are with”.

Ben Sami, a dad in Newport, revealed he had seen a rise in the number of kids dressing and acting like eshays in the north of the peninsula, and was hearing that other children were being intimidated and threatened by these gangs both in and out of school.

He said kids were being “rolled” for their clothes and trainers, but were too scared to report it.

Eshays: Memes posted online as 'eshays' are a popular topic and found amusing by some teens. Picture: Facebook

Last year a mum who appealed for help on Facebook after her son was “rolled” in Narrabeen for his trainers and clothes by a gang of eshays, saw a huge response to her post with others saying it had also happened to other kids they know.

Police investigated the incident at the time, but the victim did not want to press charges.

Dr Goldsworthy said telltale signs for parents worried their kids were involved with eshays include them developing a sudden fixation with wearing designer brands such as Ralph Lauren and Nautica.

Eshays also wear sportswear labels like Nike, Adidas and Ellesse.

Nike TN trainers are the footwear of choice and baseball hats are common.

Eshays: Eshays are known and easily spotted by how they dress. source: Instagram

Obviously lots of teenagers wear sports labels and baseball hats, but the brand of trainer and other designer labels are important, as in some instances the use of bum bags as an accessory.

Dr Goldsworthy said eshays tend to like dark clothing.

Teenagers looking to emulate the fashion of eshays, but who are not part of an eshay gang, have been known to find themselves a target and relieved of their trainers or clothes.

He said parents should also watch out for their kids using eshay language, a type of pig latin.

They scramble the letters of a word such as ‘lad’ and add ‘ay’ on the end to make adlay.

Other words include ‘eetswa’ which means ‘sweet’ and ‘illchay’ which means ‘chill’.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy. Pic by Richard Gosling

Dr Goldsworthy said the modus operandi of eshays include travelling in packs, behaving in an antisocial or intimidating manner towards other youths and adults, robbing and stealing and taking drugs.

“Parents should known what their kids are looking at on social media, who is in their social group and if they have money they should not have,” Dr Goldsworthy said.

He said back in his day, punks were a prominent subculture and that eventually eshays will be replaced with the next new thing.

“Like any subculture, today’s eshay will be tomorrow’s nerd,” he said.

Originally published as What is an Eshay: Warning signs parents should look out for