Nate and I have talked about the possibility of living abroad at some point, usually focusing on the British Isles (not having to learn another language being key here. We're kinda lazy that way). Recently, though, Nate mentioned that we might have to dye Sethie's hair in that case, due to the rampant "gingerism" in Britain. At first, I laughed, thinking the idea of red-haired people being harrassed was simply so ludicrous, it couldn't possibly be true. Frankly, I'd never even heard of such a thing--not even the term "ginger".
Apparently, it is true and seems to stem from England's long-standing bias against the Irish and the Scottish (in Scotland, about 13% of the population is red-haired; in Ireland, about 10%; in the U.S., the figure is about 2%). Of course, once I heard about ginger bias, I started noticing it everywhere in the British cinema we frequently watch. Just tonight, we watched the movie Hot Fuzz (both hilarious and disturbingly gory, just like its predecessor Shaun of the Dead) and during the climactic fight scene, the villain grabbed a red-haired boy and threatened to shoot the "ginger-nut". Earlier this week, I rented School of Seduction, another British comedy. Again in the climactic scene, one of the heroines this time accused another character of being a "four-eyed geek" and a hideous "ginger whinger" who was bullied in school.
Both Nate and I have red-haired nieces and nephews and I had always kind of hoped I might have a red-haired baby at some point. Thomas was born with almost black hair that's lightened now to a mid-brown, about the same color as Nate's (though Nate was a toehead as a baby). But Sethie was born with strawberry blond hair that has both deepened and brightened into a shiny copper. His red hair has always solicited gushing comments from the people around us. How interesting that here in the U.S. red hair is something to be admired and desired, while our nearest neighbor in the western world treats redheads as trash. I wish I had something pithy to say about it, but frankly, it's gotten so much under my skin, I can't think what I could possibly say.
I guess if we do go to Great Britain, we'll have to stick to the "inferior" isles--Scotland and Ireland. No problem here. I've always liked my men in kilts.
4 comments:
I first became aware of this fairly recently. My source? Harry Potter books, of all things. In book six (I think; I read the last two pretty close together) a couple of people refer to Ron as "ginger", which stuck out in my mind for some reason.
Those most active in advocating for awarenesss are calling it "the next form of discrimination." Presumably, this refers to a rise in public awareness about the issue, rather than the increasing popularity of "gingerist" (?) actions.
Not to minimize the seriousness of any form of discrimination, but that particular (oft-repeated) tagline seem to be the equivalent of saying "sarcoma: the new lymphoma." It fails to address the root idea. (As I think about it, though, we don't really understand our drive to "-ism" any better than we understand cancer, so perhaps it's not as bad as I thought.)
Gingerism is indeed a real phenomenon, as public forums such as this document, as well as numerous recent news stories, particularly from the UK.
Like all irrational prejudices, it appears as ludicrous from the outside as it is destructive on the inside. Here's hoping that the media exposue has some good effect.
That is so crazy - I, too, was completely ignorant until now. I even missed it being a derogatory term in Harry Potter - I mean, they discriminate against the Weasley's for so many reasons: being poor, being muggle-sympathizers, blood traitors, etc.
It's so funny that here in the U.S., at least when I was in school, that we use eye color and hair color as examples of how ridiculous racism is. I remember in my classes the teacher telling us how silly it would be if only red-headed people could sit on the right side of the room, and only blonds on the other side.
I'm really pretty shocked that this is so rampant in the U.K.
Yeah--I hesitated to call it an "ism" at first, which tags it with a seriousness that I just couldn't fathom could be true. The interesting thing about that BBC article title "The new racism" is that this is hardly a new phenom--how ancient is English discrimination against the Scottish and Irish? What shocks me most is that they aren't more embarrassed by it in this day and age--that a family could be chased out of their homes repeatedly and what seems to come out is, "well, maybe they should dye their hair."
Then again, would I care so much if Sethie didn't have red hair? I don't know. I suppose that's REALLY what scares me the most: my own otherwise apathy.
This is at least one reason that it is nice to have a loving, but extremely tough and eager to fight, big brother.
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