"Ginger boys are just ugly"

[CrumpetHead]

Just wanted to rant

Had 32wk consultant appointment today, sat in tiny waiting room with about 15 other people all crammed in and there's two women sat opposite DP and I chatting to each other, conversation goes something like "have you ever thought that your baby could be ginger" "oh god no don't say that, I wouldn't mind so much if it was a girl but ginger boys are just ugly, yuk"

DP was sat next to me and could hear the whole thing, he is ginger and so is our 14 month old DS. How rude can you get?!
DP wears a cap constantly when he's out because he got teased in school about it.

What difference does it make what colour hair you have? It's just a colour the same as brown, blonde, black are colours! Thinking about it now it's really making my blood boil and if I could turn back time I wish I'd have said something to them instead of staying quiet because I didn't want to cause an argument.
Idiots

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

I'm glad somebody else has queried the word ginger as I've wondered for a while why it's being applied to redheads.

[Flashbangandgone]

No, it's not racism, because having ginger hair is not a race.

Having brown skin isn't a 'race' or ethnicity either.... Yet in common understanding discriminating against someone based on skin colour is racist.

I'm not sure why you're splitting hairs here. Are you trying to say victimisation based on hair colour is less serious than if it were based on skin colour?

[ThursdayLastWeek]

I always assumed it was the 'fiery' associations rather than the colour?
But I am happy to stand corrected.

[Senpai]

I'm not sure why you're splitting hairs here. Are you trying to say victimisation based on hair colour is less serious than if it were based on skin colour?

Yes. Absolutely yes.

Ginger kids are not:

• Followed around just for shopping
  
• Pulled over just for driving
  
• Shot by the police at a disproportionate rate
  
• Hired less and given less job opportunities.
  
• Look at with fear and suspicion when a big group walks by
  

Nor have they had the position of being disadvantaged the last 100 years that they are still pulling themselves up (and failing) by the skin of their teeth.

Is it wrong to pick on anyone? YES.

Is it anywhere near racism? No. Don't be insulting and frankly stupid.

[CherryPicking]

Senpai - those examples only real apply to people of African origin - for example I think studies have shown that in many walks of life Asian people are positively stereotyped, or were up until 9\11. And I think it still holds true for people from China and Japan - and yet obviously you don't need to be black to experience racism more generally, so I'm not sure what those examples prove. If being pale and ginger is the white equivakent of bring black and 'too dark' I don't think its offensive to say so.

[originalmavis]

I've has more comments re: colouring than my ME DH.

[Ham69]

Absolutely respect what you're saying, senpai, but wonder if you'd feel different if you had redheaded children (apologies if you have).
Another thing that really drove me insane was every time one of my DCs had a normal toddler strop, it would ALWAYS be followed by a stranger telling me it was the fiery temper of a redhead. And "ginger whinger" has been mentioned, too. That is what I call ignorant. It can drag you down after a while and may seem very petty compared to the very valid points that senpai made but it can really affect people's lives.

[Flashbangandgone]

Senpai

I'm not for a moment saying that the amount of discrimination suffered by people of black African origin equates to that suffered by redheads... But that's not to say that where discrimination occurs based on hair colour that there isn't an equivalence between the same type and level of discrimination based on skin colour.

By your logic 'racism' against say, Arabs, isn't really racism as it doesn't match up in severity to the scoresheet of wrongs experienced by black Africans....

[Flashbangandgone]

Is it anywhere near racism? No. Don't be insulting and frankly stupid.

I find your argument 'frankly stupid' if I'm honest.

It's a bit like saying... 'You can't possibly say you're tall if you're 6'6.... As I know someone who's 6'9!'

[villainousbroodmare]

I'm an Irish redhead and I think I've only had one negative comment in my life on my hair, lots of positive ones.
I must say I despise the word "ginger," even more so when used as a noun "she's a ginger," and triply so when abbreviated to "ginge". It just sounds vile.
It's just creeping into Ireland a little now I think; before this we were referred to as redheads and the bullying imo was minimal if it occurred at all. I think it's very much an unpleasant British thing.
Interestingly, in those who breed horses professionally, there is a slight anti-chestnut bias which is also associated with irritability or temper!

[zippyswife]

I actually only had any negativity as an adult when I joined the police. Where all 'banter' is game. And the place was brimming with immature dicks. it bored the fuck out of me. A fellow redhead colleague pointed out that it's the last bastion of discrimination. Until that point I can only think of a handful times I was called ginge or my hair commented on in a negative way. I've always loved being a redhead.

[CherryPicking]

So having the crap beaten out of you for being ginger and living in daily fear of it happening as a pp's son is up thread, is somehow less serious than having the same done because of your skin tone? That's not right at all. Racism can happen to anyone.

[Gabilan]

"Racism can happen to anyone"

Prejudice can happen to anyone. I've been beaten up for my hair colour. At the time it's happening, no, you don't really distinguish between that and being beaten up for your skin colour. BUT, I also know that my job chances aren't affected by my hair colour. I'm not going to be shot for it. There's no history of anyone claiming I might be a different species and that therefore it's OK to enslave me. It's shit and it's nasty but IMO it's not racism.

[BelleMairead2]

My fiancé is ginger and is the best looking man I have ever known! I'm pregnant with my first and would love a little ginger to pop out

[Flashbangandgone]

CherryPicking

Totally agree

This discrimination hierarchy is very strange... To take it to it's logical extreme you could say that it's 'insulting' to think black people suffer racism as if considered over the period of human history or so, the sufferings of the Jews have been far greater!.... though this of course would be preposterous and idiotic argument to make!

[Mmmmcake123]

I hated the word ginger and told my daughter she had strawberry blonde hair; she is pale with blue eyes and very pale lashes n brows. Her beautiful hair is on the lighter side of ginger. The strawberry blonde thing didn't work. People told her she was ginger v early on and then I felt myself in a position of somehow denying it which I wasn't. She was the only redhead in school and because of this I don't think people were interested in variations lol. We embraced the term.
I don't want to annoy you cactus but you've said more than once that being ginger isn't something you can't do anything about. Pls consider what you are saying, am I supposed to tell my beautiful babes that they're ok if we just get some dye out for brows lashes and hair, maybe a bit of fake bake?
Sorry I'm becoming sarcastic again, Irreally don't mean to

[Mmmmcake123]

Just a quick aside in ref to it won't affect getting a job. It's not that I don't agree with this, but it can depend on the job. When I was younger I was given a one day trial for a Saturday job. I didn't get it even tho they were apparently desperate, I just didn't fit the look the manager wanted for his clothes empire.
Might have been my fake john lennon glasses tho lol
Tbh I don't think this would happen as much now.

[fakenamefornow]

Hired less and given less job opportunities.

I heard on radio 4 a few years ago about a study that found actually people who are ginger are a lot less likely to be hired/promoted than people who aren't, in fact more than any other group. I can't remember which university did the study, it was years ago, but I'll try to find it.

[HeteronormativeHaybales]

From my expat view, this anti-'ginger'ism is one of the most profoundly weird things about British culture (up there with the obsession with the 'property ladder' and the cost of childcare). I've always loved red hair. My dh has red body hair (blond head hair. No idea how that happens) and my first dc was born with red hair (that went blond within weeks), so I did have some hopes of redheaded children. Wasn't to be.

[Helmetbymidnight]

Why are people calling this racism?

It's stupid, nasty, bullying and prejudiced but it's not racism.

[SkandiStyle]

Chris Pine is definitely red headed in Star Trek and looks bleddy lush (as he does in everything). Eric Stoltz...yes please.

I spent my early 20s during my hair several shades of auburn and yearned for natural, red, pre Raphaelite ringlets.

DD2 has always had mid brown hair, but since puberty it is definitely shading towards auburn/ chestnut and she's thrilled me too

Red heads always look so much more vital and vivid.

[LookARandomName]

I'm slightly ashamed to say that, before my son was born, I was hoping he wouldn't be ginger. Not because it's "ugly" (I was a ginger boy myself - my hair has darkened since) but because I remember the bullying by both children AND adults who should know better.

[pearpotter]

I think racism can be perpetuated by and suffered by people of any ethnicity. Obviously the prejudice suffered by non-whites is generally speaking vastly more endemic and severe. It doesn't make it ok to unfairly discriminate against, bully or tease anyone for their hair and skin colour, just because some people have it far worse.

[Helmetbymidnight]

No one has said its ok.