Much ado about something

[dreamer_easy]

Tesco apologises over 'ginger jibe' Christmas card

Dating in the Dark's ginger-bashing ad banned

Schoolboy bullied over ginger hair hanged himself

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Is red-hair bashing a particularly English thing? Because I grew up we teased about everything, but I don't recall red hair being one, nor coming across it in any other American context, except once recently (in a online context which made me suspect the meme came from somewhere else.) The worst I can remember is affectionate "carrottop" type nicknaming. Heck, red hair was practically a sign of all-Americanness, at least in boys: My Three Sons, Happy Days, any given Norman Rockwell painting.

[silverblue.livejournal.com]

I really have no idea why this seems to have become so prevalent recently. Last night on the train, going home from the work Christmas party with another government drone, a couple of women in their early twenties randomly asked my coworker if he 'hated rangas', with a strong implication that he, a complete stranger to them and about twenty years their senior, should.

While I just stared, he noted that his partner was a red head and he thought the whole thing was stupid, and they proceeded to ask for extra details about how his partner looked naked, as though red heads had extra-special horrible gross organs or something.

[ficsoreal.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I don't get it. I've always found red hair lovely. I'm American if that means anything.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

In an American context, it seems to me the cliche' is that red-haired women are particularly hot/attractive, and red-haired boys particularly cherubic/all-American. I wonder if in an English context it's coded anti-Irish/Celt hatred trying to disguise itself now that open racism is a little less popular.

[ashamel.livejournal.com]

I don't know about 'all-American', being an Aussie, but I'd agree with that.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

It's a weird weird UK thing. Even at high school I was only harassed for a couple of years for my hair colour. I have the horrible impression it's spreading.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

"Do the cuffs and collar match?" aka "Is your pubic hair the same colour as the hair on your head?" To which the only possible answer is "MATCH THIS" *machine gun fire*

[kelemvor.livejournal.com]

I dyed my hair red a couple of months ago, because it's less startling than peroxide and covers the grey almost as well. (My natural colour is dark blond, but I've found that I can pass off any colour pretty well.)

One of the first reactions that I got from a colleague was, "Did you lose a bet?"

Personally, I don't understand the anti-ginger sentiment that is becoming more and more common, unless as tavella states it's a resurgence of anti-Irishness. I've always found redheads striking and (usually) attractive.

[kelemvor.livejournal.com]

In an American context, it seems to me the cliché is that red-haired women are particularly hot/attractive, and red-haired boys particularly cherubic/all-American.

Compare this with a line that I first heard in one of Brett Butler's stand-up routines: "I will slap you like a red-headed step child!" There seems to be some doublethink going on there.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I think people are picking it up as a "joke" that's going around. In places where gingerism is uncommon, it must seem pretty harmless. I'm nervous that it won't stay that way, though.