# Why do British people make fun of people with red "ginger" hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063 "2010-10-13T23:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![El\_Presidente](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@El\_Presidente](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Presidente)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/21 "2010-10-14T05:44:51Z")
I dont think teasing of redheads (itself probably a derogatory term) is isolated strictly to the Isles. In the United States it can be pretty bad for males. They grow up with nicknames like “Red” and called “Carrot -top”. Also the phrase “I was treated like a red-headed step-child” is considered derogatory of redheads. Redheads typically have pale skin, and burn easily in the sun. My father was a red head, and always had to cover up when going outside. I think there is an unfair perception that redheaded males are a little weaker than other males (and Im sure redheads such as Napoleon, Lenin and Thomas Jefferson would beg to differ). On the female side, I’m sure there is teasing, but at an older age, I would argue a pretty red headed woman is going to attract as much male attention as a blonde. I dated a very pretty red head freshman in college. There’s fewer things prettier than a good looking woman with natural red hair. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/22 "2010-10-14T05:51:10Z")
Every time I hear about poking fun at “gingers” I can’t help but think of the (extremely disturbing and graphic) video for MIA’s “Born Free”. It’s an alternate-universe America where redheaded kids are rounded up and forced to walk through minefields for no apparent reason. https://player.vimeo.com/video/11219730 You can watch it there, if you really want to. It’s not really clear if it’s meant to be anti-genocide, anti-American, anti-anti-ginger, or what. It’s got elements of all of those, and whatever you make of it, it’s hard to take. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/23 "2010-10-14T05:57:56Z")
Panamajack it sounds similar to this: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUhLIjlTNSk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUhLIjlTNSk) ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/24 "2010-10-14T06:13:04Z")
Isn’t there a general European historical basis of redhead prosecution, with reports of Judas being a redhead, connections to witches/vampires, etc? Presumably more prevalent in areas where redheads are much less common, like southern Europe/Balkan areas, but if the idea migrated up I could see how it could combine with Irish/Scottish rivalries in England. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/25 "2010-10-14T07:49:40Z")
While it’s true that there has been from time to time unofficial prejudice against redheads in the U.S. (just as there has been unofficial prejudice against almost any other random group you can think of), posters in this thread are obscuring the issue when they downplay the taunting of redheads in the U.K. as if it were no more than in the U.S. The taunting of redheads in the U.K. is really rather bizarre, and any American who hasn’t been there would never believe it. It’s not an ethnic group thing. It’s just a chance for immature bullies to have some reason to torture their victims. It’s not, of course, anything like an official prejudice, and it’s not even a majority opinion. It’s just something that childish bullies in the U.K. have picked up on for some inexplicable reason: Incidentally, you might enjoy this clip from the Catherine Tate show: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUhLIjlTNSk) Oh, heck, it was already posted two posts ago. ---
**Author:** ![Giggsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Giggsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giggsy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/26 "2010-10-14T08:19:09Z")
I was born and bred in England ( Yorkshire ) My mother had red hair and all of her life she was affectionately known as “Ginger” - It was not used as a racial remark - in fact quite the opposite - My daughter who was born in Canada has bright red hair and as far as I know the only person who ever calls her “Ginger” is me - This is the first time I have ever heard of red haired people being stigmatized - Red headed women in particular are known for their fiery temperament and I can attest to that cos once mother lost her temper "watch out " The red hair gene is actually from the Viking or Scandinavian race who plundered the northern parts of England and Scotland for centuries - Eventually they settled their and assimilated with the indigenous population - ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/27 "2010-10-14T08:25:23Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > So while I didn’t hear the particular Top Gear episode, a person from the other side of the pond, calling someone else ‘Ginger’ may not be in reference to other person’s hair. Oh, I’ve heard it more than that from the BBC. IIRC, Catherine Tate did many sketches about it. (ETA: curse my edit window open too long ways) > [@voltaire](#): > > So what, you’ve never heard the phrase “beat like a red-headed step-child”? Uh…nope. I grew up in the Midwest and am 40 years old. Honesltly, I’ve never heard that expression before. There was enough racism to go around in St. Louis, though - maybe that had something to do with it? IOW, maybe the inherent racism of my hometown colored my perc…eh, nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/28 "2010-10-14T08:30:39Z")
Giggsy writes: \> Red headed women in particular are known for their fiery temperament Again, this is prejudice. There’s no proof of any such thing. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/29 "2010-10-14T08:34:08Z")
Uhh, everybody gets the piss taken out of them for one reason or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/30 "2010-10-14T09:20:22Z")
Red-headed girls are hot, feisty, sassy, etc. Red-headed boys are milk-skinned weaklings. It’s just the way it is. 😉 (BTW when used as a term of abuse, “ginger” is pronounced to rhyme with “singer”, and with a hard initial G. I have no idea why.) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/31 "2010-10-14T09:24:28Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Uhh, everybody gets the piss taken out of them for one reason or the other. Yeah, to equate this minor phenomenon with racism is going a bit far. It’s teasing. I can see that it could still be annoying, even distressing, to the victims, but let’s keep things in perspective. The Catherine Tate sketch is no doubt based on her experience as a victim of the teasing from time to time, but it’s also _joking_ that ginger-ism is as bad as other -isms. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/32 "2010-10-14T09:36:13Z")
You are all overthinking it waaaaaaaaaay too much. It is nothing to do with racism, The UK is such a mongrel nation that it would be meaningless. Also, the ginger=queer slang is true but if you call a ginger person “ginger” it does not refer to that in any way. It really is all about hair colour. It is just because they are “unusual” and “different” enough for kids to notice and take the piss. Kids are cruel and adults are not any better but most of the time it is merely gentle ribbing. It is no different from me being made fun of for having a strong north-eastern accent. Multiple comedy characters use the “thick northerner” for comedy effect…no harm done, it is just the way we British people are. Incidentally, my son has hints of ginger in his hair, (to the point where we considered having him tested for it) and I have ginger in me too. Thankfully it is in my beard so I only have to shave to hide my shame. Also, I recall my first really serious girlfriend at age 14. She was a redhead and immense fun but in many ways she fitted the redhead stereotype and ultimately proved far too much to handle for a young, uncomplicated chap like me…happy times though! ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/33 "2010-10-14T09:36:21Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > > [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > > > Uhh, everybody gets the piss taken out of them for one reason or the other. > > Yeah, to equate this minor phenomenon with racism is going a bit far. It’s teasing. I can see that it could still be annoying, even distressing, to the victims, but let’s keep things in perspective. The Catherine Tate sketch is no doubt based on her experience as a victim of the teasing from time to time, but it’s also _joking_ that ginger-ism is as bad as other -isms. Yeah, it’s teasing. I had reddish hair (which has now darkened, though I still have a ginger beard which is an inviting target for my friends) and freckles when young. I got teased for it. Some of my friends had glasses. They got teased for that. Some were bad at sport. They got teased for that. Some were mard. They got teased for that. etc. etc. It’s just the way it is in Britain. ---
**Author:** ![falcotron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@falcotron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcotron)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/34 "2010-10-14T09:45:40Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > While it’s true that there has been from time to time unofficial prejudice against redheads in the U.S. (just as there has been unofficial prejudice against almost any other random group you can think of), posters in this thread are obscuring the issue when they downplay the taunting of redheads in the U.K. as if it were no more than in the U.S. I think that depends on how old those Americans are and where they’re from. Growing up in LA in the 80s, I never saw any serious prejudice at all, just the occasional joking teasing between friends. But, as I said, my grandfather, growing up in Baltimore in the 30s, had a totally different experience–again, he always said he faced more taunts and bullying for his red hair than for being Jewish. So, I think he’d understand what people face today in the UK, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t.\* - Especially since, unlike him, I’m not ginger. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/35 "2010-10-14T10:39:24Z")
As far as the proverbial red-headed stepchild goes, I always understood that the reason he got beaten was that he was a very visible reminder that there had been another man at some point–presumably the source of the red hair. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/36 "2010-10-14T11:22:53Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > As far as the proverbial red-headed stepchild goes, I always understood that the reason he got beaten was that he was a very visible reminder that there had been another man at some point–presumably the source of the red hair. As a rare and recessive gene, red hair can resurface after several generations and I have a memory of reading that in the olden days this indicated bastardry as no one in the extended family had red hair. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/37 "2010-10-14T11:39:49Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Red hair used to be considered ugly, on this side of the pond as well. Remember Anne Shirley’s agonies over her red hair? Which makes me suspect that if it was ethnic prejudice, at least in L. M. Montgomery’s mind, it was anti-Irish rather than anti-Scottish, since that region of Canada is like 90% Scottish. ---
**Author:** ![Mertyn86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Mertyn86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mertyn86)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/38 "2010-10-14T12:14:19Z")
Just to add to all the other responses, I’m a 24 year old English man currently dating a ‘ginger’. She totally lives up to the fiery stereotype. I often joke with her that if we have kids and one of them is ginger it’ll be fine as long as it’s a girl, if it’s a boy he’s getting adopted!😉 So yes I’d say ginger girls are fine, it’s the boys who get most of the stick over here… In the UK it really is just a case of light hearted fun, for example you hear of hate crimes based on race a lot, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard of someone being attacked for having ginger hair (I’m sure someone will dig an example up now…) Oh I live just outside London, cockney is hardly used anymore, and I’m pretty sure no one would ever use the term ginger as slang for gay. ---
**Author:** ![Mertyn86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Mertyn86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mertyn86)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/39 "2010-10-14T12:31:19Z")
Missed the editing window, looks like there is at least one case of a ginger hate crime:eek: [http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life\_and\_style/women/families/article1873119.ece](http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1873119.ece) Looks like anything is possible, but I stand by my assertion that the vast majority of people in the UK really don’t feel strongly enough about ginger people to physically harm or discriminate against them - hence why the article makes such a point of it being a ginger hate crime i guess! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/40 "2010-10-14T13:29:17Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > …My own little ginger girl has hair of a [beautiful and unusual shade.](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vBMG0kK63HI/SHw61DptlmI/AAAAAAAABRY/zX5-cHyiiCY/s640/200605250179.JPG) She is self-conscious about it because _everyone_ comments on it and she doesn’t like that, but she knows that everyone thinks it’s beautiful. Red hair is pretty much universally admired these days in the US/Canada. Cute little girl! One of our boys has hair almost exactly that color. We ask from time to time if anyone has given him a hard time because of his hair. He says no, and I believe him, but kids will be kids - they can be pretty mean. I’ve read elsewhere that teasing for red or ginger hair tends to be harsher in the UK than in the US. There does seem to be a much greater awareness of, and public condemnation of, bullying here now than there was when I was a kid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063.md?page=3)