Friday 8 June 2007

Is gingerism as bad as racism?



Carrot-top, ginger-nut, Ronald McDonald, Queen Elisabeth…there are many names you can call a read-haired. But is calling redheaded people names really as serious as racism?
I just read an article by Finlo Rohrer in the online BBC News Magazine which discusses that topic. Let me first sum up the main points before putting in my two cents.

Especially in the UK, the phenomenon of bullying red-haired seems to be a big issue. Red-haired children face taunting and even grim persecution. While in other countries the teasing stops when they become adults, in Britain women get stereotyped and red-haired man take much of the worst abuse.

Photographer Charlotte Rushton claims that only two out of the 300 red-haired people she snapped for a book (called “Ginger Snaps”) haven’t been bullied of their hair. Even worse, they reported a serious anti-red hair hate crime in the UK: a 20-year-old got stabbed in the back in 2003.

Red-haired journalist Sharon Jaffa, suffering anti-red hair abuse herself, claims that “attacking someone on the basis of their hair color can be every bit as damaging as persecuting someone for their race or religion, and therefore, in some cases, needs to be taken just as seriously”.

Whereas in most countries red-headed women are considered fiery, alluring and glamorous, red is also the color of heat, danger and warnings. In ancient Egypt, readheads were sacrificed - in Europe they were associated with witches and vampires. Lilith, Adam’s lover, was a redhead (which indicates red hair was bad) and Shakespeare made all his most menacing characters wear red wigs.

In a comment below the article, I read that redheads are feared because they are believed in folklore to be the devil’s children and have red hair because they were conceived during their mother’s menstruation. A welsh proverb say “if he’s red-haired then he is of the devil”. So yesterday’s superstition has become today’s teasing. Nevertheless, sociologists claim that perpetrators could be habitual bullies, which means that if they are engaging in one kind of harassment they are engaging in others as well. They are simply looking for something to pick on. Bullies have a problem and need a victim.


To my mind, bullying red-haired is not much different than teasing people who are fat, wear glasses, have stupid names, a funny accent and so on. One of those commenting on the article said that “racism is something completely different, historically and socially” and I fully agree with this statement. Redheads have not suffered centuries of systematic abuse ranging from slavery to institutional racism. I mean of course it is wrong to judge and bully people because of certain features that distinguish them from others, but on the other hand, it often isn’t that serious and sometimes even ‘funny’. Just think about all the jokes about Burgenländer or Carinthians, and what about the “dumb blonde” jokes? Do these people seriously feel offended by such jokes? That would be too ridiculous if you asked me. There are jokes about all kinds of people and if you don’t like someone you’ll always find something to pick on. Especially children tend to mock others because of their appearance and only a few unfortunate adults don’t grow out of this habit.

No comments: