Redhead/Ginger?

[Fleur De Guerre]

The history of redhead bullying is one thing - but I get the impression that much of it today is a recent cultural invention. Like a new joke that people saw on TV and wanted to be in on.

Depends on what you consider recent. Red-haired kids were being made fun of when I was in primary school, over 20 years ago and it wasn't a new thing then! I have always loved red hair though, probably because my first ever crush was on a boy who had vivid, carrot-orange locks!

 

[Pompidou]

If you've got a high offense threshold, doing a search on YouTube for "M.I.A. Born Free" will bring up M.I.A.'s controversial music video to her song Born Free, which is a cross between Rambo 5 and Schindler's List, featuring a dystopian USA where redheads are the victims of a holocaust. I always figured she picked redheads as the victims because there would be no way to make excuses for the oppressors, but after reading this thread, maybe there's another subtext to the whole thing. Had no idea till now that redheads were second class citizens anywhere. Granted, the video takes place in an Orwellian US future and not Britain's, but it seems striking nonetheless. Watch at your own risk. There is violence and brief nudity, and I'm certain 99% of you will hate the music style (shouting punk rock of sorts), so I won't direct link. Only brought it up because of the context of the thread.

 

[Story]

I know that Southpark made fun of people making fun of redheads with the whole "Gingers have no soul" tagline(which my fellow redheads and I have a lot of laughs about). I don't know when the current round of uberbullying started with redheads, but this round does seem to be fairly new.

RD

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2010/03/10/south-park-parodies-the-gingers-do-have-souls-kid/

 

[Wesley Milton Dagwell III]

I think because red hair is rarer than other hair colors and because it is so beautiful, it simply inspires jealousy. And jealousy can be nasty.

As the past victim of quite a lot of bullying and the very occasional perpetrator of some of it I don’t think it jealousy, at least not very often.

I’d say it is more like a visceral reaction to deviation and an attempt to increase one’s status among one’s peers. Very few people would want to be redheaded, especially boys. Perhaps it is different with girls.

 

[dhermann1]

It's definitely anti Celtic discrimination. And it must have been going on for a couple thousand years by now. As I mentioned in my earlier post in the thread, the Romans considerd the Celts almost sub humanly barbaric (probably guilt over having destroyed a magnificent and thriving civilization in Gaul). The red hair on clowns today is a throw back to Roman comedy.
It must have continued when the Saxons conquered Britain in the 5th and 6th century.
Even in Shakespeare there are scenes where he makes broad fun of the Welsh, depicting them as clods and hillbillies. You just know the original actors in the 1600's would have had red wigs.
Damned shame. Stupid.

 

[Juliet]

I must say, this just boggles the mind. I never, never heard of or seen someone abused because of their hair colour (I mean, HAIR COLOUR!???) and these stories completely stunned me.
And I don't even mean the ones where people have been set on fire and pushed off stairs, because that's plain psychotic.


P.S. And if it's any consolation - I do too, find red haired men attractive))

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I just died my hair bright red. It's an OBVIOUSLY fake colour, too lol Nothing but compliments!!

My husband is from London and he's always making teasing remarks about "gingers." Hehe. He just teases though. He loves redhead women (hence why he married ME!)

 

[subject101]

What's the place of the world with more female red heads? I love them.

BTW, discrimination against red heads, blondes, brunettes... it's the most moronic thing I have heard, at least during this week. What kind of very retarded moron is responsible for hiring people in those companies and why he/she is not fired and sued already? I think all civilized countries have laws against discrimination. Perhaps we need laws against moronism too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

\ The red hair on clowns today is a throw back to Roman comedy.
It must have continued when the Saxons conquered Britain in the 5th and 6th century.
Even in Shakespeare there are scenes where he makes broad fun of the Welsh, depicting them as clods and hillbillies. You just know the original actors in the 1600's would have had red wigs.
Damned shame. Stupid.

There was a standard character in vaudeville comedy called "Patsy Brannigan," who was a sort of rube/hayseed/hick figure who always had unkempt red hair, but he was just one ethnic/regional stereotype among many. Harpo Marx played a "patsy" figure in the original Marx Bros stage act, and that was the origin of his own floppy wig. On stage it was always red -- they didn't make him a blond until movies.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

What's the place of the world with more female red heads? I love them.

BTW, discrimination against red heads, blondes, brunettes... it's the most moronic thing I have heard, at least during this week. What kind of very retarded moron is responsible for hiring people in those companies and why he/she is not fired and sued already? I think all civilized countries have laws against discrimination. Perhaps we need laws against moronism too.

I agree. It's fine to poke fun -- "dumb blonde" "gingers have no soul" -- but hatred is just, as you said "retarded moronic." Aggression is one of our base instincts so when we have it all and have nothing to really be aggro about we will find the stupidest things to get mad about. lol

 

[subject101]

I agree. It's fine to poke fun -- "dumb blonde" "gingers have no soul" -- but hatred is just, as you said "retarded moronic." Aggression is one of our base instincts so when we have it all and have nothing to really be aggro about we will find the stupidest things to get mad about. lol

Yep, we definitely need an anti-moronism act, amend, super-3000, a no return trip to Mars or whatever lol

 

[Mr_D.]

OMG!!! This is horrible.

I personally think redheads are beautiful and sexy. It's one of my biggest turn-on's.

 

[Fly Boy]

Sounds like rubbish to me. It'd be extremely odd for people with red hair to get stick for it here or in Ireland. I doubt even the English would have a problem with red hair since so many of us Celts have interbred with them over the last few centuries. It's not April Fools yet...

 

[Miss Peach]

I've never experienced any negative reactions, but I must say it's extremely unnerving being considered a novelty. I think people may forget that they are dealing with a person...I'm constantly amazed at how free people feel to comment about your personal appearance when you are a natural redhead. I don't usually mind it because I think that it is a blessing to be so distinctive, but for us, it's all we've ever known and it takes some getting used to to be objectified.

 

[Kiri]

How inexplicable, horrible and utterly ridiculous!
I would love red hair myself. I'm a natural brunette however, and my skin tone is too tan for red.

 

[scottyrocks]

The whole UK/USA disparity runs deeper I believe than what has already been mentioned here.

Although both countries have a 'class' system, the UK's is overt. People make no bones about anyone not in their sphere, whether above or below. This brews hatred, plain and simple, and hatred needs outlets, appropriate or not (as if any form of overt hatred is appropriate). Add this to the ancient disparagement of redheads in Europe, and its no wonder things are the way they are.

As an aside, put directly related to culture, take something as simple as sports. In the US, all sporting events, with the exception of a championship game many years ago where people kind of destroyed their downtown, and I cant remember the sport or the city, anyway, all sporting events pass with little to no danger to fans. How many times have we heard in the UK about dangerous, and sometimes deadly rowdiness at soccer (football) matches? It is presented to us here in the States as part of the culture. Any of our UK members please feel free to address any of what I have written, especially what I may have gotten wrong to any extent.

At any rate, lack of tolerance in general, combined with stupidity (?) makes people say and do some pretty awful things.

I will end, on this Martin Luther King Jr Day, with one of my favorite quotations by anyone. Although not word for word accurate this from MLK Jr, 'I do not judge a man by the color of his skin, but by the quality of his character.'