News Item

From Special Irish Fest Ginger Correspondent Sarah "Red" Walsh

Is Gingerism As Bad As Racism?

BBC News Magazine

A red-haired family claims to have been driven from their Newcastle home because of abuse. Why is the harassment of redheads dismissed as just harmless fun?

Here's a joke. "What's the difference between a terrorist and a redhead?" Here's the punchline. "You can negotiate with a terrorist."

Is this offensive? If it was made in your workplace, within hearing of a redheaded colleague, would you make a fuss? Probably not. But mock someone's ethnicity, religion or sexuality and you will attract the beady eye of management. Make a sexist joke and prepare to be dismissed as an antediluvian relic.

So when does this date from? Some claim it could be a throwback to anti-Irish sentiment from the 19th Century and before when the Irish, with a greater prevalence of red hair, were regarded as ethnically inferior.

For those who claim their workplace taunts are just harmless banter, it could be stress rather than an anthropological aversion to red hair. Workplace psychologist Professor Cary Cooper, of Lancaster University, says abuse can be "an unhealthy release valve for stress" and redheads, as a visible minority not protected by law, have become a target.

While other forms of the discrimination are the subject of marches, lobbying and education campaigns, redheads cannot expect the arrival of the politically correct cavalry anytime soon.

Speaking on behalf of the leadership of a planning committee blessed with multiple redheads, I will state on the record that we love our gingers at the Kansas City Irish Fest, each and every one.

But between you and me...that joke at the top of the page? True.