Having Red Hair
 

This post has been a long time coming. All of my life really. And since this forum is a place that we can talk about tolerance and gettin on together, then now is a good time to raise these issues.
Like many of you out there, im in my twenties and grew up in an environment where overt racism is pretty taboo. In fact, if there was a black kid in the playground he/she would probably find popularity and acceptance a might easier than the average person (at least in my predominatley WASP area). If the word 'nigger' or 'gook' (or whatever) was uttered in the playground there was a collective intake breath from all quaters, and action was swiftly taken. People knew they had crossed the line. This never stopped whole troops of kid teasing the hell out of kids with red hair. In fact to most people its just funny to tease people with red hair.
I managed to be pretty popular in school and didnt cop it as much as alot of other kids, but always felt very defensive about the whole thing. The other day i was going for a run locally when this car slowed down near me and the occupants laughed and pointed at my hair calling me names etc. It was horrible. Then last night i was at work when these guys walked past and started loudly calling me names. And the thing is, if they were making fun of my skin colour or ethnicity, people would have been lining up to bash the shit out of them. I mean i dont even know these people, they just see my hair colour and think im fair game to them because i fit into some long standing category of acceptable abuse.
I mean honestly i dont care what people usually say, and i can take a joke aswell as the next guy. And, if it ever comes to a dusty i can handle myself quite well. But repeated incidents of lynch mob laughter is hard to fight on my own. I just dont think people have any idea the extent of this type of predjudice.

I don't get it...how could someone harass a person with red hair?! Red hair is the most beautiful of all hairs!! :D

I've really never heard of that before. Strange. I guess people with self-worth issues will find any reason to make fun of others :rolleyes:

Yeah, red hair rocks.

Have you ever read "Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins? After reading your post, you would probably like it.

I don't make any secret of the fact that I have a huge weakness for redheads. But it goes a little deeper than the fact that red is the most attractive hair color on earth. Anybody can dye their hair and be a blonde, or a brunette. But a redhead has a spirit, and a fire from within. You can't fake being a true redhead.

You would probably like "Still Life with Woodpecker" also Bill O'. Its pretty much a book expanding your post into 140 (or so) pages.

I agree with you BTW.

i've never understood the mockery made of beautiful red headed people.
heh, i don't understand prejudice & mockery based on physical looks period. end of sentence.

i have green eyes. go on. mock me.

Why?

If there is one thing that can enhance a redhead...it's a beautiful pair of green eyes.

hah i agree, Bill O'Rights.

but i don't have red hair, not that i would mind it! (i do honestly have green eyes :))

i was just trying to emphasize that prejudice based on color of skin, hair, eyes or what have you is simply old embred spoon fed ignorance.

there was this kid I went to high school with who had red hair... he was the biggest fucking asshole in the world. He was kind of the way-over-the-top homophobic kind of guy who made a point out of picking on people... so we made fun of his hair.. and he got really pissed and called us all faggots.. and he got suspended..
that was great... (note: he was an asshole because of his upbringing, not at all, imho, cuz of his hair)
but pretty much all the other red heads I've met have been very cool, genuinely nice people (even moreso than most other people I meet), and unfortunatelly, probably half of them have been very sensitive about their hair color due to past experiences.. I don't get why anyone would randomly make fun of someone for something like that...

Used to get mocked for being a redhead, shrugged it off though. I mean really, I never heard a good insult thrown at me about it, so what's the point of getting upset? And if you think us redheads have it bad, think about the poor blondes and all the jokes about them ;)

I wasn't very fun to tease because I didn't give a shit. I got teased very little and most of it was in the form of nicknames which is fine. What's funny is when people say "Oh you have to meet my friend matt, You'll like him, He has red hair and freckles just like you!" I always thought it was funny that they'd make a generalization that I'd like someone because we had the same hair color. I sometimes responded, Oh you have to meet my friend john, He's got a brown hair and a big nose just like you. I didn't make many friends that way so I just ignored it most of the time.

Red on the head, like a dick on a dog.... Beaten like a redheaded step child... I guess some of the people responding did'nt ever hear these jokes, and many others, frowing up. One of my best friends growing up had red hair, and me and him were sort of the outcasts. My last name is Spanish, and if you look at me, I look pretty caucasion, whatever that is, so we both got teased a lot. We hung around together and got into a lot of fights. I learned not to judge people because of their hair color, color of skin, etc., etc, at an early age. I really think it is what someone has previously mentioned, that a lot of people in this world that have low self esteem problems find ways to find something different about others and make fun of it to make themselves feel better. To me, I try to judge a person soley on the interaction I have with them, look intio their eyes, and go from there. I am a bit jaded though, as I am trying to be honest here, when I see a man with red hair, I think of them as being somewhat stronger than the average, I guess because of my old friend, he was one though mutha, and when I see a girl with red hair, she is a bit more beautiful than others, maybe because of the crush I have always had on his little sister :) . What I am trying to say is, I am still working on my goal to be tottally outward apperance blind, but to be honest, it is always going to be a work in progress. I guess it's just human nature, when you have dealings with a number of people that look the same, you tend to treat the next person you meet that looks like that group, the same. I have one saying that I try to live by, and it is It does'nt matter to me what you look like, if your are an asshole, then you are an asshole, and if you are decent, then you are decent.

I was teased in elementary school because my hair was so red that and because I also had freckles. I hated it. Wasn't so much because of my hair color as much as it bothered me being teased because of having freckles. Tried to sand paper off my freckles once. Needless to say it didn't work.

RED HEADS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a cute red head is hotter than any super model or chick on the planet (except for a cuter red head)

Red hair here, and I completly understand! Oh well, I dont mind.

i have to ask what kind of comments they were making?

red hair runs strong in my family, though my hair is mostly brown, with a lot of natural red highlights. i can't see how it's worth making fun of.

I can't remember the comments made .. I know there was a guy in school that had red hair and freckles and they used to compare me too him and tease me saying that we boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean at that age being in elementary school and all .. that was a disgusting word .. boyfriend. Ewww with cooties even.

If they're low enough to make fun of you they're worth ignoring, that's how I looked at it in school and how I look at it now, works well for me.

My 9 year old cousin has a lot of trouble with this. I went to a k-12 school and he would always come crying to me in recess because some kids said he was the devil or something like that. I think guys have more trouble with it than girls.

Just think of the cool red heads around: Jessica Rabbit, Willow, Ron Weasly, Hayden Fox. Anybody else know any?

I've never really been made fun of for having red hair, but I have noticed something. A lot of men love women with red hair. Older women seem to like my hair, but young women really don't go for it at all. It's even been to the point where I've had girls I was dating tell me they didn't like it or that I should change it. Also, trying to date a girl with red hair never works, because she either tells you that you look too much like her brother, or people think you're brother and sister.

I like red hair. I've known quite a few good-natured redheads.

It's much easier and much more poignant to make fun of people because of their statements and actions.

You Took the words right out of my mouth, as a guy with red hair it is very hard to find anybody my age who likes my hair. I did get teased a lot in school and over time I grew a thick skin. Even today people still tease me.

let me also reiterate the complete magnitude at which redheads rule. redheads are teh bestest. hands down.

dick winters from band of brothers!

Thanks for the good vibes people.

Yeah, i would agree with this for sure. Although ive found the odd girl in my age group who likes my hair colour, for the most part it doesnt go down to well. I guess for the most part, the red headed male isnt as sexualised in our culture. If you are a female, youve got your Nicole Kidmans or sexy alternative gothish looking people, if your a male then Borris Becker is about the pinnacle. And the amount of times ive read awesome books that have been translated into films where the red headed character has been changed into a canonoised hollywood archtype is too inumerable to recall. But titles like Trainspotting, One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest and Shawshank Redmeption certainly come to mind.
From what i hear descrimination against reds is the worst in the UK, so spare a thought for them. The english take sledging to a whole new level really.

I got teased a bit for being a redhead when I was little and get the odd comment every once in a while now.

Pippi Longstocking, Coppertop (Duracell), Raggety-Ann, Ginger, Red, Firecrotch.

Didn't bother me then and doesn't now because the people who make those kind of comments (in a mean-spirited way) are usually assholes anyway.

Male redheads kick ass :icare: They generally have to put up with a lot more crap than women do. But... I couldn't marry one. Think about it, our kids would glow in the dark or have translucent skin or something ;)

I had red hair growing up, its gotten darker and now its closer to auburn then in the spring/summer it lightens up a little. I never once got teased about my hair. I didnt think people did tease others about it. Weird, sorry to hear about it though its really a shame that our society still cant just tolerate each other for who and what they are.

Where are you from almost august?

carrot top, blood nut, period head.... heard em all over the years. doesnt bother me one bit. water off a ducks back as we say! :)

the killer comment was from my boss the other day:

"better dead than red!". how nice :) i actually laughed my head off. i just looked down at his huge protruding gut, smiled and said "nuff said!".

plus over the years I have realised that red heads have a niche market in the dating game. all it takes is a bit of confidence and the willingness to take the piss out of yourself and the girls seem to flock! ;)

a question for the other red heads of the forum:

do you have a bad temper?

i am the kind of person that you can push and push and push. as soon as you cross the line, i blow up big time. i mean uncontrollable fits of rage. you?

I'm not a redhead, but I remember reading when I was small that redheads have naturally high levels of testosterone, which tends to give them explosive tempers.

Note to redheads: if you've got that much extra testosterone, don't go taking steroids. You'll end up one huge pimple that blows up when things happen. Like, any things. ;)

That kind of thing has happened to me in the past but not often. I don't really get angry much, I do get fustrated, but not angry.

Who knows, maybe its a redhead thing.

My hair used to be bright red. Now it's kind of more brownish. The only red i have on my body is my facial hair. It used to be a problem because people would talk shit about it. I got called a fire crotch a lot, the oddest part about that was that it was mostly in sixth grade, when nobody really had pubes anyway.

I think red hair is hot as hell, and it sounds like i'm joking but i really love the ghost white skin that usually goes with it(except for the tendency it has to get sunburned really easily).

I have a really long fuse too.

Yes, there are still opposite prejudices that exist. I know someone that basically had a teacher call them skin and bones. This upset the girl, and if the opposite were true the teacher wouldn't have said "Damn, you are fat."

Yeah, I grew up with orange-red hair, and got shit about it constantly!

It wasn't until I grew my hair out, learned to make it curly, and it darkened to auburn that people ever said anything nice about it. And I still get the occasional insult, although now it's from a friend who's just joking.

And as for the temper thing, I'm very hard to anger, but when I was younger, once you set me off, it was on like Donkey Kong biatch.

And as for younger women liking/disliking the red hair, I find that not that many have liked my haircolor on ME...they always say "I'd love to have hair like yours". And older women absolutely love the hair.

Where are you from almost august? [/B][/QUOTE]

Australia

yeah, i used to have the typical maniac redhead temper, but i think ive cooled off a bit.
As for females who like it, the absolute hottest girl that went to my high school started coming on to me a couple of years ago. She later admitted to me that it was mainly a hair thing. So the pendulam does swing the other way. On the other hand an ex gf once said some really hurtful shit about the issue after a break up.
Yeah ive heard 'Better dead than red'. I also hear 'Red Nut', 'Red Nob', 'Rusty Nuts', 'Ginger Whinger' and different combinations.
Apparently there are some sites on the net that deal directly with this predjudice, esp in the UK.

Apparently redheads are most common in Scotland, where 11% are reds. In the US 2% are.
For those interested in history, there used to be a Pict tribe called the Caledonians who were all redheads. The Roman armies came upon this tribe and had alot of trouble defeating these crazy naked people. In fact the Caledonians did a pretty good job in defeating the famous Roman 9th Legion. It is mainly because of the Caledonians that Hadrian's Wall was constructed. Also, these tribes were pretty heavily tatooed. 'Pict' means 'painted people'.

I used to hear things all the time growing up with the Ronald McDonald hair, but it just didn't bother me. I was always the tallest kid in my class and had glasses so I couldn't let much get to me. To this day, the most clever name I was called was "Towering Inferno" Of course that was the seventies and was, I guess, relevant to the period.
As for temper, if I burn long enough, watch out.

In Brazil, race is defined by hair color.

And I want red highlights in my hair, that'd be l33t. (Yah I'm a guy lol)

hey almostaugust, thx for that bit of history, made for some very interesting reading tonight! :)

one classic site google came up with was this:

http://www.redandproud.com

LOL!

Red hair is gorgeous. Be proud! Plus, most guys I know are nuts about red heads and women find guys with it very unique and sexy. Maybe taunters are just jealous? :)
Nicole Kidman has made her red blonde but she used to have beautiful, curly strawberry blonde - circa "Dead Calm" (good movie).