Why the fuck are some English people so nasty about ginger hair?

[QuentininQuarantino]

My beautiful DH is ginger. When we first got together, he was attacked from
behind and had his jaw broken, had a McDonald’s throws at him out of a car window, had a bloke push him into
a pond at university. My own “friends” asked me when I was pregnant what I would do if my baby came out ginger. He tells me heartbreaking stuff about being bullied at school.

We emigrated 10 years ago and people say nothing, or nice things.

We’ve been back in the UK for Xmas for 3 weeks and we’ve already had people (older people) shouting “Oi Ed Sheeran” across the street about four times, one young woman in a pub asking to see his pubes FFS.

Why is it still okay, and common(!) to bully strange men in front of their small children purely based on a psychical characteristic!!??

@QuentininQuarantino red/ginger hair occurs in just 1 or 2 percent of the global population which makes them far more original and interesting than the utterly ubiquitous and mediocre 90 percent of people in the world like me who have brown/black hair, and the remaining percent is blonde. Bullies are inherently boring empty people who shout at others to distract from their own ordinariness. Tell your DH to walk tall and pity the dull.

My ds was very red-haired as a child and as far as I know nobody ever commented on it negatively. One of his close friends at secondary school came from a red headed family (both parents and both children all red-haired), I'll have to ask her if she's had any negativity. Maybe it is a regional thing, or just some idiots in any area or the idiots found other things to tease ds about (he was always quite small for his age until he shot up at 14).

I have a friend in Germany whose daughter is red-headed and she looks like what I imagine young Elizabeth I to have looked like.

It's not quite the last bastion of acceptable discrimination though - that's heightism.

Oh and it's not just an English thing. Haven't you all read Anne of Green Gables and Anne with an e's lifelong (at least school-long) hatred for Gilbert Blythe because he called her "carrots".

(the books are based in Canada for those who haven't read them or seen the TV adaptation)

Although she does predictably end up marrying him in the end...

I feel its disgusting that it's ok to be abusive and piss take about ginger hair. I am ginger, I don't remember being bullied, but I remember horrible remarks and people asking what will I do if 'shock , horror ' my babies are ginger. Also friends saying that they would dye their kids hair if they were ginger. It's like they forget I am there. A relative of a friend was devastated that her daughter was pregnant by her ugly ginger boyfriend, but never made a fuss when the daughters next baby was by a drug dealer, just out after doing 10 years for manslaughter, that is the honest truth. (The relative related this to me over time 1st hand)
I totally love my hair, I am nearly 60, never dyed it and it still holds its colour, with a few white highlights.

As you don't have red hair you can't comment on other people's experiences

I wasn’t commenting on other people’s experiences, just my own.

My children and I much prefer to be called ginger. I'm not overly bothered but my youngest feels offended to be called a red head or similar, her hair is closer to orange though.

We're in England, of Irish heritage and have been fortunate to have suffered very little abuse. I got a bit as a kid in the 80s but my teen son hasn't had any bother at all.

You don't have red hair so you really don't have experience about morons giving you a hard time.

You don't have red hair so you really don't have experience about morons giving you a hard time.

No, but I do have experience of morons giving other people a bad time.

OK then..... your opinion on this subject is just that not an experience. So you know nothing about it right?

Mother to 3 varying shades of red head children (1 auburn, 1 ginger and 1 strawberry blonde) we have gently got them used to the ginger comments as they got a bit older, we affectionately called them ginge. At 18,13 and 10 they have no problems with the colour of their hair and have been able to let any further comments from peers wash straight off them. The 13 and 10 year old are both boys and the 13 year old is the one with what most people would call ginger-and we’ve given him so much confidence about the colour of his hair that he set up (in his words) a “gingers only group” within his mates and they all have their own ginger related nickname 😂.

Ive got red hair and its honestly never been a problem for me. I hated it as a kid just because I was the only one in my primary school who had red hair.........but surprisingly my hair isnt the reason I got bullied! One of only a few at secondary school too.
Ive always thought that men with red hair have it worse than women. So sorry your dh has had such horrible things happen op. Really not ok.

Also in response to comments upthread about knowing what its like to have red hair if you havent actually got red hair............... thats like saying you know what its like to be "brown" when you are white etc.
Plus Im distinctively obvious with my red hair (less so nowadays that lots of people have blue/pink etc hair) but its nothing compared to what its like to have a different coloured skin to the majority of people around you.

I've read it is 13% of the Irish who are redheads. At any rate , it is too many to pick on here!

I love red hair and notice a lot of women use henna so maybe swings and roundabouts?

I lived in UK when I was a child and had a red headed sister and brother. Both would be considered ginger and they drew a lot of attention growing up and it was mostly negative. Even amongst us Irish it was typically seen as more acceptable to be a girl with red hair then a boy. That seems to have changed now.
I have an auburn toddler and he gets so much attention because of his hair colour and all positive. I used to call my brother red lemonade head to wind him up when we were kids so it was karma that I would have a red head myself. (Red lemonade is a drink unique to Ireland for anyone who hasn’t heard of it).

Easy targets pure and simple Probably even worse for men with red hair who are almost expected to have a sense of humour of it most of them do cause they have good character don't get me wrong now I've seen some who would smack your teeth out and I don't blame them

Easy targets pure and simple Probably even worse for men with red hair who are almost expected to have a sense of humour of it most of them do cause they have good character don't get me wrong now I've seen some who would smack your teeth out and I don't blame them

I don't give a fuck what anyone says to me red hair is far far superior to blonde. blonds go red and look better I Ve never known a redhead die their hair blond and look good it washes out where is vibrant and I think red head girls are beautiful.

Zombid thread..............

No it isnt

The thing that bothers me most is about British people they use that horrible word banter which makes me cringe but I die grass most British people I make really are ugly and red hair at least it's stands out and is different than unfortunately that's what attracts the typical ignorant brits

u cannot speak for everybody but I don't know one redhead or ginger as British people say that did not get bullied at school not 1 and it's you know easy targets always have been always will be to disgrace shame on British people in particular, Who let's face it are not the best looking people anyway

Round here it is 'foxy'. 🦊. Redheads are a large cohort of the Irish population - 13% - so it's not a good idea to pick on them in any case.

It is cowardly the people would not dare criticise something else red hair has always stood out I think it's beautiful and very vibrant but people sang it's lucky to have it don't get the memo if somebody has been bullied then it's far from lucky British thick heads

I don't understand this at all.

I think red hair is beautiful and wish I had it.

Thinking about this some more, if it's an English thing, I wonder whether it actually has its roots in a deep seated animosity towards Scots and Irish people, with red heads being perceived to be Scottish or Irish. Sometimes these things go so far back in our psyche that people have no idea where their prejudice even comes from.