What do we think of ‘gingerism’?

[Nikee20]

It’s annoying me!
Why is okay to be not okay with gingers?
Today a colleague said ‘I have a new grandchild, but they’re ginger…for now . But the sun might bleach it.’

Is this okay to say ‘shut the F up’ or -

YABU - this is fine, be quiet

YANBU - this is shit

It's just bloody rude.

Of course it's not acceptable!

I think it's ok to not like ginger hair.

Obviously, it's not ok to not like the child because they have ginger hair.

It's rude and unacceptable.

But some people are weird about hair colour. There's a thread about ginger hair every couple of months on MN, and you'll often see posters OTT gushing about how they were 'bitterly disappointed' their child wasn't born with ginger hair, and how 'utterly beautiful' it is etc, and how dull and boring brown hair is.

It's just hair colour, there are far more important things in life to worry about.

Not acceptable.

YANBU
I love ginger hair.
I have seen the comedian Alasdair Beckett-King a couple of times, and he has the most glorious ginger mane.

W_

Is it OK to dislike a skin colour too? FFS.

I have ginger hair. Couldn't give two fucks tbh 🤷‍♂️

It passes me off no end and in my experience over the past 50 plus years there are fair number of people who do it.

As an adult I get far more compliments now as a ginger than a child, although I do take the mic out of myself sometimes. Is it even a thing with children anymore? I’ve just heard about hairlines for some reason!

IMO it used to be a thing and isn't so much any more. Not with kids anyway. They dont even comment any more. Things have definitely moved in the right direction.

Personally I love ginger hair, it’s different, unique, a reminder of our Celtic heritage but having two children one with beautiful auburn licks and one strawberry blonde I know first hand how it can be seen as a negative.

Ginger bitch
Ginger pubes
Put ginger in front of anything and it becomes an insult and yes I’ve heard pregnant women say “as long as it doesn’t come out ginger”

I had an acquaintance/colleague inform me that she didn't mind if her baby was a boy or a girl...as long as it wasn't ginger!
I have red hair!
While I totally embrace it now,as a kid it's just an easy option to bully kids about. I dontget the hatred - it's unique and special to have ginger hair! Think it harks back to days of old when it was associated with witches - a few 100+ years later and people haven't moved on!

It stems from xenophobia towards Irish immigrants and it need to Stop!

It's a form of bullying which some juvenile idiots seem to think is still acceptable. Nasty and pathetic.
Also, what is 'ginger hair'? Red hair comes in loads of different shades, just like brown hair or fair hair.

@sweetkitty You beat me to it withe pregnancy story!

Surely its another form of racism, depending on what has been said?

Red hair doesn't seem to be very popular though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15001467

Not only Irish immigrants, also native Scots. My dgd has the most glorious red hair, I hope she keeps it as she grows

Grew up violently bullied due to my hair colour. I still do not understand why it's seen as fair game when we don't choose it any more than we choose our skin colour, eye colour, ethnicity, culture etc. I genuinely don't get it. And the people using it as an insult or disappointed by it quite frankly need to consider whether they'd be so quick to comment on anyone's skin tone, accent, eye shape etc because it really is in the same wheelhouse.

Awful prejudice, with roots in anti-Irish and anti-Scottish racism. Should always be challenged IMO.

We can't change our skin colour though can we?, You're conflating different issues. I've never dyed my hair plum, ginger, or black because I personally don't like those hair colours either. These are choices I can make, as can you. We don't all have to like all hair colours. I'm not offended that someone might not like my hair colour. You don't have to make an ism out of it.

So you think it's OK to be rude or even violent to someone whose hair colour you dislike and that they should just dye it if they're not OK with being someone's punchbag?

@waltzingparrot eh??? Is something not an ism if you can change it???? So people should be dying their children's hair to avoid being targeted?!
What about religion? If I'm a Muslim I can avoid Islamaphobia by converting to another religion???
What a very strange argument.

Speaking as a redhead, I still remember some comments from being bullied over hair colour as a kid.

I love my auburn hair now and regret all the years dyeing it out of shame. It's striking and my partner loves it too

On the bus the other day this woman in her 30s was mouthing off about not wanting ginger hair. I actually felt that same stab from when I was a kid - it's really pathetic and nasty.