French teacher called her Ginger

Well one of the "cool" girls (not that I think "cool" and "Popular" are particularly desirable labels since they tend to imply that there is some sort of regime of rigid norms and exclusion going on, certainly at DDs school that meant being thin and blonde, or thin and black) at my DDs school actually did dye her lovely red hair to fit in. Mind you they excluded the Asian and Chinese girls as well though they obviously could not joke about their difference, so DD had a lovely sub culture to enjoy.

Sarf Yes "ginger minger" was a common delight....

Is it really still like that? Genuinely my 15 year old has never been called names like that. She's really popular - one of the "cool kids". In fact one of her nicknames is "Ginge" - a name she uses herself.

I'm 43 and have never experienced abuse for being ginger. I've experienced abuse for being a weirdo, and a swot, and a "stiff" but never for being ginger.

I do know a lot of redheads locally though.

I've been ginger all my life (56 years of it) - was called 'carrot top' at primary school, which I thought was funny, and 'ginger' many many times thereafter, but never seen it as an insult. I've always loved my colouring - and that's probably down to my Mum who told me it was lovely, and attractive - so I thought anyone who made fun of it was just stupid. I still can't for the life of me see it as an insult!

MrsOGrady it is in most secondary schools, and mine was in an indie, and it is when some grown man shouts to a 13 year old "eh ginger is the bush the same as the treetop". Of course if you have red hair embrace it, that is your right but it should not be acceptable to use the word in a rude way and some people need no excuse so why give them one ?

Personally I bought my children up to be proud of themselves and offer the same respect to others.

Thank you for putting it so well Rondo. When I was 13 a bloke in the street asked if I had a ginger minge. Nice!

Me and my daughter are both lucky enough to be ginger. You have to embrace it! It IS ginger.

It did me no favours at all growing up to be told by my family that I didn't have ginger hair - it was titian (spelling? ) or auburn or copper. Ginger isn't a dirty word.

I hate the term ginger. Some people don't but it makes my teeth itch. Especially when used as in 'a ginger'.

OP I totally understand your point. My DD had a problem with bullying in her year and her hair was a focus for all sorts of ginger "jokes". Not just that but she also had to put up with comments in the street which were totally inappropriate for a teenage girl. It may not be illegal but it is certainly common, and disrespectful, to use difference be it hair colour , wearing glasses or whatever as a means of making a jibe at somebody, and wrong of a teacher to legitimise it in the classroom. She should have been more sensitive especially if she has years of experience and knows what teenagers are like. The result was that though she loves her hair now and realises it is gorgeous (and it is, and always was) she hated it and wanted to dye it.

I would certainly bring to this teachers attention that having red hair makes teenagers a target for all sorts of unpleasant comments and that in that context "ginger" is often used as a perjorative term.

I understand that teenagers can be sensitive and that it's not nice to feel embarrassed but TBH this sounds like a very, very minor incident that everyone else will have forgotten after about 10 minutes.

The teacher's point was that red hair is specifically described as 'roux' not rouge as regards hair.. There are a variety of other meanings for 'roux' hence the comment regarding confusion.

This French class was hardly the first time the other kids heard the word 'ginger'. They're in high school for goodness sake!

Yes, it's unpleasant to be teased to having for red hair, but it's equally unpleasant to being teased for wearing glasses, having freckles, having a big nose etc etc.

Teasing isn't going to suddenly start because of this incident.

You don't say how old your DD is, but she's in high school, she's not a baby, she needs to learn to deal with this sort of thing.

I have a ginger girl . Be proud of the word we use it all the time, my little girl is very proud of her hair colour.her favorite colour is orange as it matches her head!!,

'ginger' is often used in an unkind way, and I was bullied quite often about the colour of my hair in the 70s. Hopefully things have changed now though.

I don't see the problem. Surely it's a word she would have learned early on in French classes to describe herself.

Your attitude sounds like you're ashamed of your daughter having ginger hair and she's no doubt picked up on that, being ginger is not a problem in itself.

Children can be cruel about anything- I teased by rhyming my surname with the name of an animal- the response wasn't to pretend that wasn't my name!

Of course there is no issue in saying someone has ginger hair, if they have ginger hair. You're making an issue out of nothing.

Not to mention the French, being sensible about it, do not have and have never had any negative connotations attached to the term 'ginger' so the teacher wouldn't have even considered it mildly offensive. Which it isn't. And I am ginger.

Weird. Ginger isn't an insult in my world.

J'ai les cheveux roux is French for I have ginger hair. Where exactly is the problem?

Not sure I understand your point.

How did she think she should describe her hair colour? If she had said j'ai des cheveux rouges in France she'd have been wrong and laughed at.

Surely it doesn't mean it's just my daughters issue if she feels offended

Pretty much ,yes.

You are making an issue out of nothing.

Slight over reaction. Perhaps you are teaching your daughter that her ginger hair is a problem?

A better reaction would be to suggest that she learned the word for ginger sooner that children with non ginger hair on account of her ginger hair.

"She no and that she's just a really weird teacher possibly in her 70's!! (so maybe it's an era thing)"

No it isn't.

And ageism is illegal. Whereas hair colour is not a legally protected characteristic.

You lost any sympathy I might have had at that point.

She was once an innocent child who didn't even understand what the kids were making fun off

She's in secondary school and 'didn't get it'?

I agree, she will have thought she would know the word because she will have learnt it when she was describing herself. You're making this into something it isn't.

It was probably done innocently - I'm still getting to know my classes and asked a girl her name, she asked why and I said so I could address her by her name and no 'you, blond girl over there' as that wouldn't be very nice.

Apparently I'm hairist which is a form of racist. I had no idea.

I now know the girl's name.