What do we think of ‘gingerism’?

My son is ginger. A colleague asked to see a photo of him when he was a baby and responded, “oh no, he’s ginger!”. I also have a family member who insists “it’ll go blonder as he gets older/in the summer” in a ‘don’t worry’ tone - I always respond by saying I hope not, I love his hair colour.

It’s very odd.

Yeah, I was worried about this too. He came out blonde. Not like either parent.

I'm ginger. If my child was born with ginger hair, I would honestly feel slightly dissapointed while also excited to be passing along the family trait. I was bullied a lot at school and they often used my hair colour against me and I would hate for my children to go through that.

It's not the same as racism, but the othering whether for good or bad, the insulting and then the fetishising is still appalling

It kind of is, when you consider that studies have shown people perceive redheads as less competent, others are less likely to hire them and they are less likely to be considered as a partner. They were also targeted in history and killed on the basis of an immutable characteristic.

Now I have read theories that because freckles equals higher tendency for cancer, it was a sound strategy to avoid redheads so as to avoid passing this trait to your descendants. So perhaps this is where the instinctive ‘disgust’ response is coming from.

Adding that none of this is okay, I am only describing a phenomenon present in society and am of course not endorsing it.

I'm ginger. Ruined my school days. Now everyone adores my hair colour. However, if I use the 'G' word, people will immediately say "It's not ginger. It's titian / strawberry blonde / auburn blah blah blah." I find it offensive. Pretty sure they wouldn't correct me if it was brown or blonde?

Both of my DD have red hair. Both have had comments. One of my DD has had particularly nasty comments which the school have had to deal with as bullying. I don't think it's gone anywhere. Idiots who seem to see it as 'bullying lite': they were born with it, they didn't choose it, it has nothing to do with their worth as people

Mmm… “Ranga” is short for “orangutan” though, isn’t it? So not ideal either…

@waltzingparrot you seem to have no idea about anything.

I think it is to a degree. I have as red hair as you can get. Raised in the states - never an issue. Moved to the UK - a lot of negative comments. I love the colour (this colour, ❤️ ) of my hair.

Edit: Quoted wrong comment.

That's not my son's experience. As a teenager he had a lot of insults about being a "ginger".

This ^ is utter crap.

Why should someone have to change hair colour in order to avoid being bullied?

We’re not saying you have to like ginger hair, just don’t make an issue out of it and don’t bully people who are born with it!

I agree with you that being prejudiced against those with ginger hair is unpleasant and unkind.

I do though think that ginger hair and the commonly associated look is quite divisive. Some people absolutely love it and the red haired children I know get way more compliments about their hair than their blonde/brunette equivalents. I can also think a number of beautiful people with stunning red hair where I think their hair adds to their attractiveness and makes them stand out.

i do also think though that it can often be a distinctive look, especially when it's the very orange ginger hair with pale skin and freckles. This can be harder to pull off and I feel like men in particular with this look are generally considered less attractive (not always, but commonly!). I think this is why parents are not necessarily keen to have ginger babies sometimes as they know that the kids may face a stigma and just that it isn't necessarily a look that's considered conventionally attractive. It reminds me of your child needing glasses. As a glasses wearer myself, I don't think glasses 'ruin' someone but if you look at most models, TV shows etc then it's obvious that glasses aren't considered conventionally attractive. In all honesty, I would rather my child didn't need glasses from a purely aesthetic perspective (plus medical too but that's a different story).

I’m pretty sure it is. I have several close friends with red hair and it isn’t really a ‘thing’ to the same degree here in Australia, although we do have the term ‘ranga’ for red headed people. I only heard people stressing about having ‘ginger’ babies through my English DH and his mates.

I find it horrible and puzzling in equal measure. (Gingerismn not ginger hair!)

Younger people seem a lot more tolerant of differences than older generations. Dd is 17 and hasn't had any issues. (South London) Always seems to be older people I've heard comments from. It makes people look dated. Like thick bigots.

I've never understood the bias against red hair. I'd love to have red hair. It's beautiful.

Your colleague is shallow, ignorant and lacking in any taste.

CJ0374 · Yesterday 23:52

Surely its another form of racism, depending on what has been said?

I wouldn't say it's racism, but it's definitely bigotry and bullying, so in the same class of shittiness. It's not a crime, it's beyond people's control and it should absolutely not be used as a pretext to make somebody's life a misery.

Exactly the same for me

Red hair is lovely, but bullying over it has been a thing forever. You were fortunate you didn't get any grief.

I learned this prejudice exists from mumsnet. I wonder if it is a uk thing?

I've always found it bizarre that people have this attitude towards people with ginger hair. They always sound a bit dumb to me expressing dislike or making fun of someone because of their hair.

Absolutely not acceptable and a form of racism.

I'm a red head. I have beautiful, natural, curly, dark auburn hair.

I was mercilessly bullied because of it at school. It really changed me experience of being a young person.

On holiday in Morocco, a local said "I believe you have a soul". I later discovered this was because lots of people in North Africa believe that people with red hair don't have a soul and are evil

Red-headed people have been persecuted by various religions/movements throughout history, including in Western Europe.

It is not OK.

Not acceptable. I was a natural redhead (going grey now) a lovely auburn shade with brown eyes. I absolutely loved my colouring and in my 56 years have never dyed it a different colour. I think I was extremely lucky that 'gingerism' didn't seem to be a thing when I was a kid, nobody at school ever bullied me or commented on it. I feel really sorry for kids and young people today who have been bullied because of it. No doubt if I had gone through that, I'd not have loved my hair as much as I did.