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Original poster

When will gingerism go away?

110 replies

Anna373 · 14/07/2022 06:12

So im not ginger myself but why are gingers the only demographic which you can openly hate or make fun of and get away with it?

Because the other day At work I heard these women talking about babies and then one said "well what if your baby is ginger" in which she replied "well I wouldnt mind having a daughter who is ginger because they are pretty but ginger men are mingers" which they all laughed.

It seems like ginger men get more abuse or are considered ugly while ginger women are more sexually fetishized

My brother also has a good mate who is ginger but apparently he still gets people shouting names at him and even trying to fight him just because he is ginger.

I've never understood this hate for ginger people, its just a hair color in fact I think it can act like an amplifier and make someone look ever more attractive. Gingers also seem to age pretty well and apprently never go grey

OP posts:
darlingdodo · 14/07/2022 08:12

It's such a monumentally stupid thing for people to be abusive about.

SweatyAndGrumpy · 14/07/2022 08:13

Entirely anecdotally, I read an article a few weeks back about how there aren't enough ginger models to meet demand. Especially child models.

So there's clearly also a lot of love out there too.

daisyjgrey · 14/07/2022 08:14

Furrybutts · 14/07/2022 07:44

Not what you are asking op I know, however your work colleague needs to be careful what she says even in jest.

27 years ago when I was expecting my first child, I can remember saying to someone '. I don't mind what sex I have as long as it isn't ginger' I had absolutely no reason to even think this, as there is no ginger hair in either of our families as far back as anyone can remember.

Dd1 was born with bright ginger hair Shock

What a spectacularly odd choice to write this here...

Furrybutts · 14/07/2022 08:15

darlingdodo yes I agree.

She luckily doesn't share my shallowness and is engaged to a ginger man.

squashyhat · 14/07/2022 08:17

Me and both my siblings had bright ginger frizzy curly hair when we were young. I didn't mind the colour (and never got insulted because of it) but hated the frizz. Luckily hair straighteners were invented, and now at 61 it's probably the best it's ever looked. Only very gradual greying as well.

howshouldibehave · 14/07/2022 08:21

why are gingers the only demographic which you can openly hate or make fun of and get away with it?

I have also seen quite a lot of open rudeness about short men over the years.

JasmineVioletRose · 14/07/2022 08:22

Love a ginger! 🧡🧡🧡

Rainbowbaby13 · 14/07/2022 08:23

My DP and son are both ginger and I am biased but both very handsome 😂

I love ginger hair although with all the sunshine at the moment we're going through lots of suncream with ginger hair comes ginger skin 😂😂😂

Prokupatuscrakedatus · 14/07/2022 08:23

The dislike for red hair is very much older than nationalities.
Check out European superstition. Red hair in Medieval times was connected with the devil, hell, witchcraft and with having no soul.

My DM had beautiful red hair, I only got the 'beige'.

TreePoser · 14/07/2022 08:26

I think red hair is lovely.

I haven't heard any nastiness though, but then I'm in Ireland where it's not that rare, it's not the norm either but commenting on red hair every time you saw it would take up a lot of time.

I agree that shortness is the attribute that can be openly reviled.

Beamur · 14/07/2022 08:27

I don't think it's going away anytime soon.
DD has bright copper hair - universally adored as a baby, lots of verbal abuse and comments at High School. From boys almost exclusively.
Thankfully she likes her hair and doesn't give much purchase to the detractors. Tiresome though.

Fluffruff · 14/07/2022 08:31

Hmmm my son is ginger and I’ve never heard any negative comments (to my face at least!) just sometimes a general curiosity eg does ginger run in your family. I think his hair is absolutely gorgeous, a kind of golden red like a fox. I’d love it myself!

kewgirl · 14/07/2022 08:32

I am ginger
Never ever had any problems
I get banter and I give it back

IrisVersicolor · 14/07/2022 08:38

I intensely dislike any prejudice and abuse based on skin colour.

I think the people who abuse gingers are the ones who miss racism.

sqirrelfriends · 14/07/2022 08:40

I think ginger hair is lovely and have always found ginger men attractive.

I don’t know why people are so abusive about it, even if they don’t like the colour, it should be treated as discrimination just like every other type.

AnImaginaryCat · 14/07/2022 08:41

LeopardsAndPine · 14/07/2022 07:47

It’s racism. Ginger is associated with Irish people. And the ‘oh no, not ginger” goes back to the days when Irish people were legally discriminated against in the UK.

And in the abuse us gingers get in Ireland is because of what? Racism again the Irish too? Or in your pretendy world does it not happen in Ireland?

Edwardoo · 14/07/2022 08:48

Definitely have noticed men fetishizing red haired women and girls. I don't understand why they treat people with red hair differently. I know of the superstitious roots but I still don't get why it's a thing still. I don't understand why it's seen unattractive. Just don't get it.

weleasewoderick23 · 14/07/2022 08:56

I've been through similar in my life as a ginger.

When I was pregnant with my eldest ds, my sister asked what I was going to call him. I said Thomas and she replied " OMG! If he's ginger he'll be called ginger Tom!" That was my own sister 😡

I went on to have two more children who are both dark ( my dad was dark) and my exh would be constantly asked if they were all from the same father because they looked different ( they are).

I've been told: stay out of the sun cos you're too ginger

Collar and cuffs?

Watch out for her, she's ginger so will have a bad temper.

General disgust from some people just for being ginger because they think it's very unattractive.

I've had it all my life and, at times, have felt a lesser person because of it. I hate being ginger and will never embrace it ( I have blonde highlights now)

I'm 58 and it's never got any better ( for me at least) and it makes me so angry that people think they can say anything and get away with it.

Rant over!

weebarra · 14/07/2022 08:56

DS2 is ginger, with fair skin and blue eyes. Apparently it's the rarest naturally occurring combination, and harks back to the Vikings.
However, he's just finished p7 (Scotland) and when everyone got an individual award as voted for by classmates, his was Ginger Ninja. DH was very inclined to contact the school - I know it's not racism, but it is othering!

Coastalcreeksider · 14/07/2022 09:01

When my niece was about three, we were in Spain and the amount of attention and looks she got regarding her sandy gingery hair was astonishing. It didn't seem to be negative attention either.

Now 25 her hair is a dark cream sherry colour.

SummerRemembered · 14/07/2022 09:05

I hate to think that this is still going on and that kids are still suffering the way I did at school.

I was bullied to the point of feeling suicidal. Nobody would sit next to me, be friends with me etc because they would catch "ginger disease". I was punched in the face in the corridor by an older girl whom I'd never seen before in my life. The teacher who witnessed it kepts asking what I'd done to provoke er and when I said all I had ever done was be born with this hair colour, she laughed and said that couldn;t possibly be it and I was reaching for excuses. Apparently the fact the girls and said "ugly fucking ginger" as she punched me, wasn;t proof enough. I was also pushed into the road in front of a bus (thank you driver for slamming the brakes) to shouts of "kill the ginger". And then there was an actual teacher who made jokes on a daily basis about how he hated looking at gingers and encouraged everyone else to treat me badly. Can you imagine if a teacher said this about a BAME child or a child with a disability? In this case though, when my parents contacted the school to complain, their solution was that I dye may hair so that I don't provoke anyone in future.

The thing is, as a much younger child, before the bullying kicked in; I genuinely loved my hair. Even when things were at their worst, I would look in the mirror and not undertand the problem, I did, and still do, think it looked great.

As an adult I've had to grit my teeth and fake a laugh when friends do the "don't care, as long as it's not ginger" comments in pregnancy. Two friends have actually had red-headed kids. One kept a hat on her son in public for the first three years of his life because she thought people would laugh. The other has taken a tough love approach to her two ginger kids, making jokes and taking the approach that they have have to get used to it. I find it very uncomfortable to be around them as some of the comments cut close to the bone for me. Other friends have investigated ginger genes in their or their DH's family and have made comments like "phew, they've escaped it" when their children were born.

It's a fucking hair colour!

SummerRemembered · 14/07/2022 09:06

Oh, and I'm a Scottish female,before anyone trots out the "move to Scotland, it's so common nobody really cares" or "everyone loves red-headed girls, it's only boys who get bullied" comments.

Ontomatopea · 14/07/2022 09:11

"Having red hair is not explicitly protected under the Equality Act 2010. However, being ginger has the potential to be linked to a person's race or ethnic origin as people of a Celtic origin or from particular countries are far more likely to have red hair than an English person. Where the individual is subjected to less favourable treatment because they are ginger and because of their race they may be able to claim discrimination." From Huffington post. It needs to be taken seriously. It's shit behaviour and along with "dumb blonde" needs to be eradicated.

CurlsandCurves · 14/07/2022 09:11

I’ve got a ginger husband and 2 ginger boys. When the boys were little I’d get so many comments about their hair how gorgeous it was etc.

DH said he used to get the comments and p!staking when he was at school but nothing he couldn’t handle. But then he was one of only a handful of redheads in the whole school, that seems to have changed in a generation.

To my knowledge neither of my boys have experienced any kind of bullying. If anything they’ve always seen it as a positive. I remember ds1 telling me the reason he had lots of friends was because he was ginger.

weleasewoderick23 · 14/07/2022 09:15

@SummerRemembered

That is horrendous! The sad thing is that I can week beleive what happened to you as I went through similar.

As you said: it's just a hair colour!