We are a family of red-heads, DH, both DCs and me. I don't use or like the term ginger, due to a lifetime of snidey remarks, I find it is most commonly used in a negative way. I don't get offended when people use it in a non-nasty way, yet I wish they would use a different term.
Recently, I feel, it has become worse because now we seem to be referred to collectively as "Gingers" or singly as "A Ginger" which never used to happen. It was previously used (against us) as an adjective not a noun.
I was a child of the 60's and grew up with many a nasty comment, frequently being called "ginger nut" at primary school age, then had a nightmare of a time in secondary school when duracell batteries first launched with the "copper coloured top" strapline. This progressed to complete strangers (usually boys/young men) shouting "ginger pubes" at me in public, in city centres streets, in shops, on the bus, everywhere in my teens and 20's. Adults regularly used to joke about me being the milkman's, or ask if our milkman had red hair.
I clearly remember a girl from my year at school shouting across a road to me when I was about 11/12 "I bet you've got a ginger pussy!" I was with a few mates, so was she, I was mortified, I just said "We don't have a cat" to shut her up but I had a good idea what she meant. She was from a very rough family and not the brightest and I was pretty scared of her, she subjected me to tons of similar comments over the next couple of years.
Nights out in my late teens and 20's, you could guarantee that at least one boy/man would ask directly face to face what colour my pubes were? WTF - who else has to tolerate a complete stranger asking such a question!!! Of course, that was back in the day when people still had pubes, perhaps its not an issue nowadays.
A lot of the verbal abuse I have been on the receiving end of over the years has been from adults and older adults, I was hoping it would die out but there's been a resurgence, definitely in the last 10 to 15 years. I have had comments about my pale skin, freckles and propensity to sunburn as well. I even had someone slag me off for having no melanin.
I do think boys get it worse, My Dh got it really bad as a kid/teen. I think women can be particularly unkind about red haired men. I have always taught my daughters to love their hair colour but they have been ribbed at school about it. It can be quite intimidating when a crowd of kids all chant "ginger" at you and point in a crowded school corridor. I was secretly relieved that we had girls as I knew it would be much worse for boys.
Its not just comments either, there are real consequences, I am sure I have lost out in job interviews and been overlooked for promotions before due to being a red-head and so is my DH.
I don't think "gingerism" is an English thing, more of a British thing, I accept that it happens elsewhere too but Britain mainly. I don't consider it racist, its about appearance but we can't help the colour of our hair and skin so in that way there are similarities. I once reported someone at work for making some very nasty comments based on my colouring over a long period of time which wore me down. I worked for the council who were very anti-discrimination but I was told it wasn't discrimination as I could dye my hair a different colour! They didn't do anything about it. I can't change my skin and shouldn't have to dye my hair to suit others.
I think its one of the last bastions of prejudice which remains legal and that's why it is on the increase. I have also noticed that short people seem to be in the firing line recently, that needs to become a protected characteristic. Certain comedians don't help matters on both counts and the heightism thing got really bad because of Sunak. I have no problem with people slagging Sunak off, he is a complete twat but he can't help being short. I am sure the very tall suffer too. It just all needs to stop.