Lighter FFS we're not dealing with the Loch Ness monster. If you can't take my word for it ,this is on wiki.It's not of course conclusive proof of the alleged phenomenon's existence .
Modern-day discriminationn Carrot head" redirects here. For the French novel, see Poil de carotte.
In his book "I Say No" Wilkie Collins (1885) wrote "The prejudice against habitual silence, among the lower order of the people, is almost as inveterate as the prejudice against red hair."
In modern-day UK, the words "ginger" or "ginga" are sometimes used to describe red-headed people (and are at times considered insulting),[60]with terms such as "gingerphobia"[61] and "gingerism"[62] used by the British media. In Britain, redheads are also sometimes referred to disparagingly as "carrot tops" and "carrot heads". (The comedian "Carrot Top" uses this stage name.) "Gingerism" has been compared to racism, although this is widely disputed, and bodies such as the UK Commission for Racial Equality do not monitor cases of discrimination and hate crimes against redheads.[62] A UK woman recently won an award from a tribunal after being sexually harassed and receiving abuse because of her red hair;[63] a family in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, was forced to move twice after being targeted for abuse and hate crime on account of their red hair;[64] and in 2003, a 20-year-old was stabbed in the back for "being ginger".[65] In May 2009, a British schoolboy committed suicide after being bullied for having red hair.[66] The British singer Mick Hucknall, who says that he has repeatedly faced prejudice or been described as ugly on account of his hair color, argues that Gingerism should be described as a form of racism.[67][68]
This prejudice has been satirised on a number of TV shows. The British comedian Catherine Tate (herself a redhead) appeared as a red-haired character in a running sketch of her series The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch saw fictional character Sandra Kemp, who was forced to seek solace in a refuge for ginger people because they had been ostracised from society.[69] The British comedy Bo' Selecta! (starring redhead Leigh Francis) featured a spoof documentary which involved a caricature of Mick Hucknall presenting a show in which celebrities (played by themselves) dyed their hair red for a day and went about daily life being insulted by people. The pejorative use of the word "ginger" and related discrimination was used to illustrate a point about racism and prejudice in the "Ginger Kids", "Le Petit Tourette", "It's a Jersey Thing" and "Fatbeard" episodes of South Park.
In the United States, film and television programmes often portray school bullies as having red hair;[70] for example, Scut Farkus from A Christmas Story, the O'Doyle family in the movie Billy Madison, and Caruso in Everybody Hates Chris. However, children with red hair are often themselves targeted by bullies; "Somebody with ginger hair will stand out from the crowd," says anti-bullying expert Louise Burfitt-Dons.[71]
In Australian slang, redheads are often nicknamed "Blue" or "Bluey".[72] More recently, they have been referred to as "rangas" (a word derived from the red-haired ape, the orangutan), sometimes with derogatory connotations.[73] The word "rufus" has been used in both Australian and British slang to refer to red-headed people;[74] based on a variant ofrufous, a reddish-brown color.
In November 2008 social networking website Facebook received criticism after a 'Kick a Ginger' group, which aimed to establish a "National Kick a Ginger Day" on 20 November, acquired almost 5,000 members. A 14-year-old boy from Vancouver who ran the Facebook group was subjected to an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for possible hate crimes.[75]
In December 2009 British supermarket chain Tesco withdrew a Christmas card which had the image of a child with red hair sitting on the lap of Santa Claus, and the words: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones" after customers complained the card was offensive.[76]
In October 2010, Harriet Harman, the former Equality Minister in the British government under Labour, faced accusations of prejudice after she described the red-haired Treasury secretary Danny Alexander as a "ginger rodent".[77] Alexander responded to the insult by stating that he was "proud to be ginger".[78] Harman was subsequently forced to apologise for the comment, after facing criticism for prejudice against a minority group.[79]
In September 2011, Cryos International, one of the world's largest sperm banks, announced that it would no longer accept donations from red-haired men due to low demand from women seeking artificial insemination.[80]
A fourteen-year-old boy in Lincoln, England had his right arm broken and his head stamped on by three men who attacked him in 2013 "just because he had red hair". The three men were subsequently jailed for a combined total of ten years and one month for the attack.[81]