Ridiculous comments about red hair

[SweetSouls]

My child has a lot of fiery red hair. They are a year old.

They get lots of nice comments - old ladies in particular love him.

However I get some weird ones too. ‘Still ginger’, one of my friends comments whenever they see him.

Well this morning on the train, a woman came up to me to tell me my child would be very badly bullied at school because of the way they look.

They are one year old. Why would someone come and say that to me? It is absolutely bizarre.

I used to love going to visit family in Ireland when I was a kid as no one was bothered about my red hair.

'It's just made up nonsense. It doesnt exist here. Everyone just trying so hard to be a victim and pretend to be oppressed all the time...so boring and pathetic. And pretty insulting to those who experience actual hardship.'

'The 'it' is that minorities in this country are discriminated against because of their skin colour.'

She doesn't believe that minorities are discriminated against because of their skin colour.

@Willyoujustbequiet

It's the posts that MN have now deleted. They clearly agreed.

I’ve had this but only from close family. Making jokes like “oh still ginger is she? You never know she might change so don’t worry!” Referring to my “angry red head” child. My eldest is 8 and my new one now 7 months. Both born with beautiful red hair. Dd1 is the only one is her whole school with red hair and she loves it! Dd1 below when she was 3. It’s not changed. Dd2 has the same too.

I'm a redhead. I love it now, although it's more auburn than the bright orange it was when I was young. I wish I had embraced it more when I was younger, rather than dying it so often but I'm embracing it now.
My grandparents adored it. I remember them cooing over it and making sure I had lots of green party dresses at Christmas because redheads suit green, you know!
When I was pregnant with my first child, my sister in law (who, admittedly was about 15 at the time) asked me in genuine concern, what I would do if the baby was ginger. I didn't know what to say! But that stuck with me. None of my kids have red hair, but I would have loved it if they did!

I suppose it depends on the workplace. I don't imagine it's an issue at No 10 but my husband was the first black officer in his police force and it was certainly an issue for him. Long time ago so apologies to police forces now if things have changed.

I suppose the big difference is that lots of people who wouldn't comment on skin colour as they know it is wrong feel free to comment on ginger hair.

Also, at least two of the boys who used to tease me about my hair at school went on to have red headed children. I hope to god their children don't have to put up with kids like their fathers in their classes as they grow up!

I have three daughters with red hair. They get lots of compliments, but people also love to say “ I bet you are glad you have girls, a boy with that colour hair would be awful “

My 9 month old has lovely red hair and we always get comments on it. People like to say that red heads are feisty, or that he won’t go grey when he’s older. Or they just say what lovey hair he has. I’ve not had any negative comments, but red hair is definitely becoming more common where we live so I hope he won’t face any bullying for it when he reaches school 🤞
I never really know how to respond when people comment on his hair though - I tend to just say thanks, yes he’s got it from his dad 🤷🏻‍♀️

This has made me feel quite sad. I got tough about it, referred to myself as ginger, laughed along with the jokes but you know what? Deep down it still hurt and I think this thread has brought it up to the surface so I'll go now but OP people are stupid and I'm sure your baby is beautiful.

Having red hair means you are part of a minority.

Due to historical prejudice by the English against Irish and Scots, as well as it being 'acceptable to poke fun at red-heads', many children with red hair experience name-calling and bullying throughout childhood, in a way that black children rarely experience to the same extent these days.

And whilst red hair is often admired in women, men with red hair do experience discrimination on the basis of how they look.

Well exactly @OnceUponATimeInChristmasTime . I don't have red hair, my sister doesn't have red hair, my parents don't. I have a red headed cousin though. But as the red headed gene is recessive, there's only a 1 in 4 chance of two parents with a red-headed gene having a red-headed baby. My other two children who are not red heads could well go on to have a red headed baby too, depending on their partner's genes.

'in a way that black children rarely experience to the same extent these days.'

says who?

My youngest is a redhead and had all this bollocks. People are twats sometimes.

I’m 42 and still have flaming red hair. People have commented constantly throughout my life. 99% has been positive and I was never bullied for it, in fact it attracted a lot of suitors. Lots of other redheads in my school got bullied for it and I do think the fact that I love my hair was part of the reason. My parents thought it was wonderful and as a result it never occurred to me that it wasn’t. Hopefully you can do the same for your child OP.

Bullying because of physical features of any kind is not OK, but it isn’t the same as racism. People with red hair haven’t been systematically abused or ostracised as a group.

Oh gosh @Iwasafool , I have a feeling if I stopped dying my hair red, maybe I am gunmetal grey too - but I can't tell cos my roots could also be the mouse I was born with. Red suits me (I use henna) because my skin colour and eyes are the same as my dad's. But my sisters (blonde) began going whitish grey from their 30s.

What posters are trying to get across I think is that 99.9% of the population is well aware that discrimination on the basis of skin colour or bullying a mixed race child is very wrong and completely unacceptable.

Making comments about red headed children is perfectly OK for many people though.

*@Iwasafool
*
I suppose the big difference is that lots of people who wouldn't comment on skin colour as they know it is wrong feel free to comment on ginger hair.

There! Got in one!

That exactly what I've been trying to say.

To those of you who have dc with ginger hair that haven't had negative comments, I'm so glad to hear that they don't get the same experience as me and others.

Ah I see, I wasn't quick enough. Thanks.

The only kernel of truth is that she was a nasty kid who bullied red haired kids as a child.

the response to that would be. “And you think that’s true becuase you used to bully red haired kids, I assume ”.

Me too

I have red hair and have experienced my fair share of bullying about it, especially when younger. Grown men shouting at me about the colour of my pubes when I was 13, random strangers shouting nasty comments in the street, the old "gingers have no souls" " it could be worse, I could be ginger". I can't see how we are just meant to shrug it off. It's horrible

Could hardly believe what I'm reading. I wish I knew how people could be so ignorant.