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dreamer_easyIt's International Blog Against Racism Week! Visit ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ibarw for lots of links and resources.
Why having red hair is not like being Black :-)
As a ginger nut myself, I've been surprised to see people compare being a redhead to being a Person of Colour. So, to understand why well-meaning people might say that, let's do this backwards: let's first of all look at the ways in which being a redhead is like being Black.
First of all, red hair is genetic. The colour of human skin, hair, and eyes results from two pigments, the reddish phaeomelanin and the brownish eumelanin. At least six different genes control the production of these pigments, which is why humans come in so many different shades. Eumelanin helps protect us from UV damage from sunlight. The "tanning hormone", MSH, switches on the production of eumelanin. But in redheads, the receptor for MSH doesn't work properly - which is why redheads often tan so badly.
Secondly, redheads are sometimes targetted by bigots. I haven't been teased about my carrot-top since childhood, so I was really surprised to discover that in the UK, redheads are considered fair game for some quite serious harassment, and not just in the schoolyard. The stories are frightening: redheaded women taunted, in the tube or at work, about the colour of their pubic hair; a family moving house to escape harassment; even a stabbing.
And lastly, red hair is irrelevant. Or rather, it should be. Nobody should be judged on a stereotype of gingers as oversexed and temperamental. And yet, people still do it, just as we jump to conclusions about people because the colour of their skin. Nobody should feel free to bully redheads, and yet, some people still do it, just as some insult and harass people based on their race or ethnicity.
So much for the ways in which gingerism resembles racism. Now let's look at the ways in which they're different.
There's a lot more to racism than just pigmentation. For example, in the US, Irish immigrants were considered non-White (and lazy, ape-like, and generally inferior). Racism is inextricably mixed up with ethnicity. In Australia, racism against Middle Eastern immigrants tends to focus on language ("They won't learn English!") and religion ("omg terrorists! They don't respect Our Women! etc"), because it'd be hard to get away with more overt racism.
Redheads don't form a group that's like a race or an ethnicity. We don't have a common language or religion or culture. We don't have a history of being enslaved, segregated, locked in internment camps, or kicked off our land. We don't have a current experience of indefinite detention without charge or trial. We don't have a significantly higher infant mortality rate than blondes or brunettes, nor a lower average income, nor a shorter expected lifespan, nor a higher likelihood of growing up in poverty; nor do we make up a disproportionate percentage of prison inmates, or death row inmates. We're not crowded into neighbourhoods where other people won't live. To date, no-one has tried to "ethnically cleanse" us.
The longer that list goes on, the sadder it gets, and the more obvious that gingerism hasn't and isn't doing the kind of widespread damage that racism has, and is. Gingerism is unquestionably prejudice. It's just not in the same league as racism. And I pray to the red-headed goddesses of this world that it never will be.
Perhaps the most useful thing about comparing gingerism to racism is this: gingerism is patently ridiculous. If judging and mistreating people for their hair colour is obviously arbitrary, silly, and mean-spirited, then maybe our suspicions and assumptions about people from different backgrounds aren't as factual, logical, and natural as we think they are.
Your remarks are very welcome! (I'll add some links and footnotes in a comment.)
ibarw for lots of links and resources.Why having red hair is not like being Black :-)
As a ginger nut myself, I've been surprised to see people compare being a redhead to being a Person of Colour. So, to understand why well-meaning people might say that, let's do this backwards: let's first of all look at the ways in which being a redhead is like being Black.
First of all, red hair is genetic. The colour of human skin, hair, and eyes results from two pigments, the reddish phaeomelanin and the brownish eumelanin. At least six different genes control the production of these pigments, which is why humans come in so many different shades. Eumelanin helps protect us from UV damage from sunlight. The "tanning hormone", MSH, switches on the production of eumelanin. But in redheads, the receptor for MSH doesn't work properly - which is why redheads often tan so badly.
Secondly, redheads are sometimes targetted by bigots. I haven't been teased about my carrot-top since childhood, so I was really surprised to discover that in the UK, redheads are considered fair game for some quite serious harassment, and not just in the schoolyard. The stories are frightening: redheaded women taunted, in the tube or at work, about the colour of their pubic hair; a family moving house to escape harassment; even a stabbing.
And lastly, red hair is irrelevant. Or rather, it should be. Nobody should be judged on a stereotype of gingers as oversexed and temperamental. And yet, people still do it, just as we jump to conclusions about people because the colour of their skin. Nobody should feel free to bully redheads, and yet, some people still do it, just as some insult and harass people based on their race or ethnicity.
So much for the ways in which gingerism resembles racism. Now let's look at the ways in which they're different.
There's a lot more to racism than just pigmentation. For example, in the US, Irish immigrants were considered non-White (and lazy, ape-like, and generally inferior). Racism is inextricably mixed up with ethnicity. In Australia, racism against Middle Eastern immigrants tends to focus on language ("They won't learn English!") and religion ("omg terrorists! They don't respect Our Women! etc"), because it'd be hard to get away with more overt racism.
Redheads don't form a group that's like a race or an ethnicity. We don't have a common language or religion or culture. We don't have a history of being enslaved, segregated, locked in internment camps, or kicked off our land. We don't have a current experience of indefinite detention without charge or trial. We don't have a significantly higher infant mortality rate than blondes or brunettes, nor a lower average income, nor a shorter expected lifespan, nor a higher likelihood of growing up in poverty; nor do we make up a disproportionate percentage of prison inmates, or death row inmates. We're not crowded into neighbourhoods where other people won't live. To date, no-one has tried to "ethnically cleanse" us.
The longer that list goes on, the sadder it gets, and the more obvious that gingerism hasn't and isn't doing the kind of widespread damage that racism has, and is. Gingerism is unquestionably prejudice. It's just not in the same league as racism. And I pray to the red-headed goddesses of this world that it never will be.
Perhaps the most useful thing about comparing gingerism to racism is this: gingerism is patently ridiculous. If judging and mistreating people for their hair colour is obviously arbitrary, silly, and mean-spirited, then maybe our suspicions and assumptions about people from different backgrounds aren't as factual, logical, and natural as we think they are.
Your remarks are very welcome! (I'll add some links and footnotes in a comment.)
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-19 11:59 pm (UTC)Well you can't have it both ways: if rights are a matter of popularity, then there is no such thing as bigotry against an UN-popular group, and so it's ok to hate blacks and jews and everyone else that the majority doesn't like!
You can't pick and choose, idiot.