Redheads are more aggressive than their black-headed and yellow-headed counterparts. Most people, throughout the world, would probably assume that this sentence referred to humans. It doesn’t. It refers to research done at the University of New South Wales on the beautiful, endangered Gouldian finches.
The finch research shows how the expression of a colour is genuinely linked to a behavioural trait. Unfortunately, for many centuries and across continents, people have been making the same assumptions about redheaded humans.
These past few years have not been good ones for British redheads. First, Frank Dobson, the London mayoral candidate, told a press conference his mother warned him "to steer clear of redheads". Then, an advertisement campaign staged for NPower, a British utility company, implied that redheads were a sorry lot. Redheads were up in arms. So much so that The Advertising Standards Authority made NPower remove their ads. And then, Neil Kinnock suggested it might be disadvantageous to be a ginga if you wanted to be prime minister. Of course, he lost the election. And, who was the most maligned of the present royal family? The flaming red haired "Fergie".
According to an old article in The Guardian the marketing world considers redheads to be hot-headed, risk-taking, social butterflies. Apparently, these "follically-challenged" individuals do things on the spur of the moment, operate on gut instinct, speak their mind and like to stand out from the crowd. In fact "You don't have to have red hair to be a redhead." You just have to be a loud-mouth, beer swilling, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" addict who reads The Sun.
In Corsica, the home of the redheaded Emperor Nero, if you pass a redhead on the street you spit and turn around
The practice of stereotyping redheads is not limited to Britain. In Corsica, the home of the redheaded Emperor Nero, if you pass a redhead on the street you spit and turn around claims Sylvia Stevez, the founder of Association Francaise des Rousses, a red-headed liberation movement.
According to Amanda Third, a researcher at Monash University in Australia, redheads have long been seen as spunky, exotic, sexy and rebellious. While natural red-heads only make up about 3% of the Australian population, the number of bottled redheads is skyrocketing across the continent. Third suggests that this is because women are buying into the myth of the racy, dangerous redheaded siren who is intriguing to men.
Nor, is this prejudice limited to adults. Everywhere red-headed young children are the butt of jokes. In playgrounds across America kids shout "Redheads stink. Redheads stink". In school yards across Britain kids still taunt ginger-headed tots, screaming "ginger whinger" and claim they are everything from nerds to dorks to easy lays to basically unbalanced. You name it and they - and that means both males and females - have been called it. And, they have been called it for centuries upon centuries. Children's rhymes even went as far as to wish death upon red heads.
"You red one
Jump over the wall
Break your neck and legs
Never come home alive".
Throughout history and across continents redheads have often been viewed as "others" or witches, not quite human
Think back, way back to biblical times. Remember Judas, the red haired, red bearded, ultimate betrayer? Or, Mary Magdalene, the redheaded "reformed prostitute"? The ancient evil Egyptian God of chaos and storms, Seth, was another famous red-head. Throughout history and across continents redheads have often been viewed as "others" or witches, not quite human.
Trawling through literature it soon becomes clear that this ancient prejudice has invaded the literary and artistic realms. Dangerous characters or absurd creations are often redheads; Chaucer’s miller, Uriah Heep, Fagin, Swift’s most dangerous Yahoos, Joyce’s women who "buck like goats", Walpole’s Crispin, Jack in Lord of the Flies, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman, Jessica Rabbit, and even the American children’s TV characters Howdy Dowdy and Clarabell.
Where did this long-standing, very bizarre prejudice come from? Could it have started with a few tablespoons of blood? Menstrual blood? For centuries, it was widely believed, that intercourse during menstruation was evil and dangerous. It was the devil's work, the red-garbed monster’s fault. Ancient Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Christians, Muslims, Chinese, Hindus and almost every other group considered a menstruating woman unclean and intercourse with her was taboo. According to Jacques Gelis1, a French professor of modern history, a redheaded menstruating woman was probably regarded with particular suspicion: she carried a rank smell, was sexually eager, frightening, foul-tempered, impulsive, polluted, deceitful and her breath prevented the scabbing of wounds and infected newly delivered women. And, even worse, it was believed that if conception took place during the time of menstruation, then a child would be born with syphilis, gonorrhoea, leprosy, birthmarks, freckles and red hair3, 4.
Thus, this poor child was not only in a state of impurity but it was also the product of improper activity. As the product of parents with no self-control and starting life swimming around in a menstruating uterus, redheads were universally believed to have bad qualities and evil inclinations. The poor little redhead was positive proof that the parents had indulged in sexual activity during "that time of the month". And, thus one common prejudice easily gave rise to another.
Moving across continents, the prejudice lingers. On the subcontinent, Ayurvedic medicine maintains that everyone with red hair possesses a substantial amount of PITTA in their constitution. And, who are these pitta-laden individuals? Well, they are basically hot, oily, irritable, sweaty individuals with long and heavy menstrual cycles. According to popular belief in Central Africa, the Nguenguerous (Cameroonian albinos with red hair) are born in this condition because their mothers had sexual relations during their menstrual period. In many English speaking countries when women are menstruating they sometimes say "my red-headed aunt is visiting"2. And, red-heads are sometimes referred to as "tampon tops".
This prejudice even seems to have garnered weight from medical research where it has been found that there may be a link between menstrual problems and red hair
This prejudice even seems to have garnered weight from medical research where it has been found that there may be a link between menstrual problems and red hair5. Apparently, women with red hair have an increased risk of endometriosis; experts guess that the gene determining red hair might be located near other genes that make women susceptible to endometriosis. And what are the problems associated with endometriosis? Abnormally difficult or painful menstruation, menstrual disturbances and infertility and of course premenstrual tension leading to "witch-like" symptoms. It seems that the redheaded menstrual riddle comes full circle again.
References
- Gelis, J. 1991. History of Childbirth. Polity Press. Cambridge.
- Golub, S. 1992. Periods: from menarche to menopause. Sage.
London. - Rowland, B. 1981 medieval Woman’s Guide to Health. Croom Helm. London
- Schleiner, W. 1995. Medical Ethics in the Renaissance. Georgetown University Press. Washington, D.C.
- Woodworth, SH, Singh, M. et al. 1995. A prospective study on the association between red hair color and endometriosis in infertile patients. Fertility and Sterility. 64 (3): 651-652.