Wednesday, November 24, 2004
The ginger revolution
Vindication at last! A positive ginger role-model is born. My staff members though are less complimentary. On being alerted to the article, one e-mailed me to say "Let me see if I have this right. Ginger people have got a role model who is (a) mad, and (b) has a pair of magic pants.... "
Personally I have never understood what the problem is with redheads though in my childhood I did go through a stage of wanting to dye my hair black - something I changed my mind about after watching Anne of Green Gables on the TV. Sandra Gidley MP, another redhead, alerted me to this website as part of her own discussion of this phenomenon. For these people being ginger is a way of life.
As if to rub it in the Western Mail records the attitude of other Countries to redheads:
Percentages of redheads in different countries range from single digits to a fraction of 1%.
Redheads generally are more numerous in northern latitudes, but also appear among Hungarians, Egyptians, Israelis and certain Nigerian tribes.
In France, to be redheaded is thought to be a fate so dire that some women have formed a Proud to be Red association.
In Denmark it is an honour to have a redheaded child.
In Corsica, if you pass one in the street you spit and turn around.
In Poland, "if you pass three redheads you'll win the state lottery," claims Sylvia Stevez, the Parisian founder of Association Francaise des Rousses.
Harvard dermatologist Madhu Pathak calls redheads "three-time losers" because their red pigment is an inadequate filter of sunlight and their skin is more susceptible to sunburn, skin cancer and wrinkling with age.
I do not think I will be holidaying in Corsica anytime soon!
Update: For those redheads looking for validation there is also redandproud.com.
Personally I have never understood what the problem is with redheads though in my childhood I did go through a stage of wanting to dye my hair black - something I changed my mind about after watching Anne of Green Gables on the TV. Sandra Gidley MP, another redhead, alerted me to this website as part of her own discussion of this phenomenon. For these people being ginger is a way of life.
As if to rub it in the Western Mail records the attitude of other Countries to redheads:
Percentages of redheads in different countries range from single digits to a fraction of 1%.
Redheads generally are more numerous in northern latitudes, but also appear among Hungarians, Egyptians, Israelis and certain Nigerian tribes.
In France, to be redheaded is thought to be a fate so dire that some women have formed a Proud to be Red association.
In Denmark it is an honour to have a redheaded child.
In Corsica, if you pass one in the street you spit and turn around.
In Poland, "if you pass three redheads you'll win the state lottery," claims Sylvia Stevez, the Parisian founder of Association Francaise des Rousses.
Harvard dermatologist Madhu Pathak calls redheads "three-time losers" because their red pigment is an inadequate filter of sunlight and their skin is more susceptible to sunburn, skin cancer and wrinkling with age.
I do not think I will be holidaying in Corsica anytime soon!
Update: For those redheads looking for validation there is also redandproud.com.
