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!!??

It's bizarre- I love ginger hair!

I have red hair & I 100% get you on the terms used to describe fellow red-heads.

I mean if you look at root ginger (which is where the colour gets it's name) it's closer to a dirty blonde than to red. It's only after the spice has been treated that the reddish brown colour comes out.

As a kid I had the nickname Duracell as I was the one with the copper top.

There is a form of negative prejudice if you have red hair and I believe it stems from a tinker background from my personal experience. I'm not from that background yet I get followed around in stores by security and they seem to keep a closer eye on me than other shoppers (again personal experience). I am Irish and I have auburn hair.

Yep. When you're female, blonde and from Essex, it is far from easy to get taken seriously in the workplace; and when you meet men in the pub you know they are thinking you're a blonde bimbo and are going to be an easy lay. Think again sunshine. I'm too old and grey for all that nonsense now, but I had to deal with so much shit when I was younger, I have every sympathy with anyone who has to deal with discrimination due to their appearance.

It isn't. I'm in NZ and people make fun of gingers here too

It's down to an Anti-Irish thing.
Irish people being predominantly Catholic and some having red hair. Not a huge reach if you're the one at the receiving end of it.

I think it's worse for men, I have ginger/red hair and whilst it is mentioned more frequently than if I had been brunette (dyed it a bit when younger and people definitely don't comment on brown hair as much), it's always very complimentary. I live in the UK. DS is what the hairdresser calls strawberry blonde and I've only heard nice things about his too, although I'd imagine teenage boys can be quite cruel about these things, he's only 4 at the moment.

@Anotherbloomingchristmas It isn’t racism by any definition and any attempt to qualify it as such is ludicrous. Ludicrous & offensive.

Any race can & do have ginger hair but if you are suggesting the real issue, in the UK, is discord between English & Irish then it still wouldn’t be racism. They are both the same race.

South Park has a lot to answer for. So many blokes at the time latched onto that "joke" including one of my exes. He is one of my FB friends and has since gone on to have DCs. His DS1 has red hair and is absolutely gorgeous. I hope he feels thoroughly ashamed of himself now.
I hate that it is the last acceptable discrimination. My half brother and half sister have red hair and suffered terribly growing up.

It's not just the English that can be morons

Being nasty to red haired people isn’t unique to the UK.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=oPuhVYamSBo

I wouldn't say only ginger men get grief for their hair. I am a red head and got it all growing up.

It is very odd, I mean it's a hair colour.

It's BS and very wrong and I can't quite believe there's people who haven't ever heard of this sort of negativity.

I remember the kids with really bright red hair at school getting SO bullied, but the girl with very red auburn hair being the most chased after girl in our year. People are weird. Now I work with a woman (from Peckham but parents both Irish Catholic) who is VILE about people (including very young kids) with red hair, even her own son who gets a red hint to his beard if he grows it longer. She used to be a primary school counsellor so you’d think she might have a bit more about her. That said she’s also very homophobic and more than a little bit racist. I think it’s people who aren’t very bright.

Sorry it isn't what? It seems like you're agreeing with me that it happens in other countries?

I thought it was traced back to vikings. Then women with red hair were seen as witches for a time. But then you have titian and the pre raphaelites who kind of fetishise it.

That's such an American response to be so clueless about the rest of the world. Being ginger is made fun of in lots of countries

I'm absolutely horrified that your husband has had to suffer like this just because of his hair colour!? I'm Irish and have friends who are stunning red heads, and more often than not they are complimented on their hair colour. I guess Ireland is different to the UK in that sense. Sorry that you and your husband have had these experiences. People can be so nasty!

Yep I was agreeing with you, it has missed off the whole quote (or maybe I did something wrong)

It's shit. I'm a tall red head with curls and glasses and pale skin so that was fun at school
I still get comments now about my skin colour and hair

It so so weird that ginger is perceived as bad. I have two brothers, both ginger who experienced awful abuse at the hands of bullies. They are the loveliest people too. Some people are just fucking idiots!

There's a deep seam of anti Irishness behind it.

I'm in the US and those of my children who were lucky enough to get the red hair get nothing but compliments on it. Being Irish is considered a great and good thing in the US and I think that makes a huge difference. People of Danish, Dutch, and northern German ancestry who have red hair here are happy to be co-opted into the Irish fold...

@pinneddownbytabbies absolutely right about the Essex thing! Regional accents are more acceptable these days, unless you're from Essex/east London when as soon as you open your mouth you're considered a moron.
I have worked in a senior role for a national team in a government department, as an ice breaker we were asked to say something about where we live. The senior director then made several Essex girl jokes, in the kind of accent I've not heard since the original Mary Poppins film. Didn't happen to anyone else, from any other location.

I'm a bit sad to say that university flattened my accent and I accepted that gratefully. People often say to me, oh you'd never know you were from that area! Like it's a shameful secret!!!

YYY, @UneFoisAuChalet

The term ginger isn't one you hear much at all in North America.

My dad was a redhead and so was my granny, his mum. I have a couple of redhaired first cousins too. One of these cousins grew up in Saudi Arabia and red hair is considered to be lucky there. She used to have strangers coming over to her and touching her hair all the time.

Totally understand, some of our red haired family was accosted by hotel barman as if we were going to cause trouble. 3 strapping 6 foot tall red haired guys, basically he thought they were travellers as wearing shirts ( which is another form of unacceptable racism).

Being called ginge, ginger, "a ginger" was such a negative feature of my childhood and teenage years that I still feel a visceral reaction when I hear it.

You do you, but it was always said negatively and I wish you wouldn't use it. Other red haired people can reclaim it if they like but I never will.

Quite a lot of sexual harassment around the speculation of my pubic hair and how "fiery" I might or not be. From puberty onwards.

And people who tell you that you must be worried / glad your children didn't get it - wtaf?

This was Scotland, although the anti red haired child thing came from a variety of nationalities (the fact that there could be more than one person so utterly lacking in social awareness really surprised me).

@Opine

You need to Google the legal definition of racism as it applies to the UK.

I think you'll find you're wrong. It applies to nationality and ethnicity as well as 'race'.