We’ve all heard of bullying happening to homosexuals, overweight people, and different types of races. But what about redhead bullying? Surprisingly, people with red hair get bullied often as they grow up.
It seems to have become more popular after the popular cartoon, "South Park." The show regularly features its characters harassing redheads, and several years ago started to run an episode which featured a "Kick a Ginger Day." Now each year, on Nov. 20, dozens of redheads have reported being kicked by classmates and strangers who have a problem with their hair color.
Many redheads also find the word ‘ginger’ to be very derogatory. Everyday kids will get picked on and called names and made fun of all because their hair is red.
One woman said she actually gets her hair pulled in public by stranger as they hiss ‘ginger nut’. She also gets verbal abuse from passing cars and has to deal with her co-workers making ‘ginger jokes’.
Three young boys (one 13 and two 12) were arrested for bullying on redheads. They threatened to injure him online and would try to follow through at school. One young girl got her legs kicked from behind (due to South Park’s “Kick A Ginger Day”) and she was really terrified. She said she has heard other people say that they get kicked many, many times.
There aren’t very logical reasons as to why redheads get bullied. One idea suggests that redheads are short-tempered so it’s ‘fun’ to mess with that. However, that is a stereotype of redheads. Another idea is because of propaganda such as South Park. When kids watch South Park they think it’s funny and acceptable to bully redheads.
Now this may seem like South Park is an awful show and influence (Which I personally think it is) but in their defense, that’s not what the episode really portrayed. Many people misunderstood what the episode was trying to achieve. South Park used gingers to mirror the struggles of the black civil rights movement in the United States. However, if you rearrange the word gingers, it makes a derogatory term for blacks, so the N word. This indeed was a hard idea to grasp considering the imaginable intellects of the people who watch South Park, but the idea of bullying gingers because of it got way out of hand.
All bullying really is is teasing someone because they’re different. Doing so only because they are different is one horrible excuse. Everyone deserves respect until they prove that they don’t deserve it. A redhead has zero control over what color their hair is, it’s all just genetics. So why would you bother them as if they made a really ‘odd’ choice? Most students now wouldn’t dare single out an African American and call them names. But for redheads it’s okay? It’s not okay! No one deserves to be bullied. People that bully are just horrible and need to realize what they’re doing to their victims.
Being different is a good thing. Everyone is unique and that’s how we were made. We are all supposed to be different and look different and if people can’t accept that then they need to keep their comments to themselves. Nothing is wrong with having red hair, or black skin, or prefer the same gender. Everyone deserves a chance and bullies need to realize that too.
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