by guest blogger Canonfoder
The internet is a global platform therefore, I want to take a blog post to talk about something that is a problem especially in the UK. GINGERISM. Ginger is used as a derogatory word for people with red hair people. The gene for red hair is recessive and it is believed that about 2% of the world population has red hair. There is a commonly held belief that the world may not have any red haired people in less than 100 years because of it being a recessive gene. Recessive genes can skip generations and appear without red haired parents as long as they are carriers of the recessive gene. The gene is not in any kind of situation to disappear.
There are two different forms of saying Ginger one of which is less offensive, but still offensive.
Gin/Ger, which sounds like the root spice.
Ging/Er, This one has a soft second G instead, to distinguish the redheads from the root spice.
What is it that causes the red hair? A small amount of brown eumelanin in the absence of other pigments causes blond color hair. While medium amounts of eumelanin or a combination of both eumelanin and pheomelanin causes variations of brown hair. Someone possessing lots of eumelanin and no other pigments will have black hair. The pigment pheomelanin gives red hair its distinctive color. Red hair has far more of the pigment pheomelanin than it has of the dark pigment eumelanin.
As this blog does here is a couple different news stories involving the hatred of the red haired:
This story is the one that got me involved. first. The world's largest sperm bank is at capacity for sperm with the red headed gene. That title for the article clearly states what the article is about. Most titles however were more like “Sperm Bank is Refusing Ginger Sperm.” Once you read the articles you understand that there just isn't as much of a demand for red headed sperm as others. It is just a case of the demand not being there, the sperm bank is not against people with red hair, those needed sperm are. The second link is to an article related to this makes the sperm bank seem even more red headed hating by listing various cases of gingerism in the UK as well as other places in the world. The news articles are intentionally demonizing the fact that the sperm bank does not need more red headed sperm. Without too much thought I came up with a better title for the article that does not demonize. In addition these were all online publishing places so using a smaller title for the sake of space was not a consideration. Words can change a simple story into a racist attack.
http://www.newsytype.com/11601-redhead-discrimination/
The second news story talks more of the history of gingerism. From dark ages when red hair was a sign of the devil through red hair being beautiful in renaissance art all the way yo gingerism today. A story in the middle is what really caught me by surprise. “Last year, newspapers reported a family fleeing from their home in Newcastle after being the victims of extreme gingism.” While hard to believe the article also states, “'The G word is an anagram of the N word,' says Richard Tyrone Jones. While we may not find ginger that offensive we can definitely relate in the US to its anagram. I can also believe that would drive people to move as well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/24/gingerism-ginger-prejudice
A lighter side of gingerism in the US was shown in the Mythbusters Episode “No Pain, No Gain.” (episode six of the 2010 season, first aired April 28) Adam and Jamie tackle if different people tolerate pain better, including the stereotype of redheads being able to tolerate less pain. The stereotype is false, the redheads beat all other hair types. Adam Savage being a redhead is especially proud of this outcome.
In the South Park episode Ginger Kids (Season 9 Episode 11) caused a large backlash for their red head based story. The episode was a social commentary on political movements. The used red headed hate speech in school to begin the movement which goes from peaceful to violent quickly in the episode. Some people thought that the episode was truly promoting gingerism because that was the trait used to start the movement.
The language of oppression is a worldwide problem. We must be open and understanding to each facet. If you are interested in the language of oppression around gingerism another person has a blog based around the specific language for gingerism at http://gingerism.com/
Thank you for your time,
Canonfoder
Sarah Shannon signing in...I'm not quite sure of how this works but I will post my comment here.
ReplyDelete-- WOW! I didn't know the color of a person hair could have such in impact on a group of people... I learn something new everyday. Even the fact that certain ethnicity went through great trouble in different areas such as hair color is crazy to me. I grew up on The little Mermaid" and never once did I think she was anything less than a beautiful woman of the sea. This article was very interesting although I wouldn't compare the "G" word ginger to "N" word ...I feel some kind of way about that statement in the article. I am an woman of color, and feel a weight difference in the slurs, but that's just me. The fact that sperm places wouldn't allow "gingers or red heads" to give there sperm is truly ridiculous! Again this article was Interesting article and I learned something new.
I have a fondness for red hair, I think it's beautiful! I was not aware of the 'Ginger' slur until lately. Although I was never a fan of the Spice Girls, but when the lead singer is called Ginger Spice and she had lovely red hair, who would think that people like her would suffer a form of prejudice?
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of extremist PC, and I still find the term 'ginger', used in a term of endearment or light-hearted, is not a negative. But, it can be misused, and I understand that.
I find this to be extremely interesting. I never knew that gingerism occurred. Until recently within the past year I never really heard the word ginger to describe someone with red hair. I think it is ridiculous that people make fun of red haired people or think they are strange just because there is not a widespread population of red haired people. If anything I think red haired people should bask in the realization that they are beautiful because there is only 2% of the population that is red haired.
ReplyDelete