Monday 27 February 2012

Ruadh Gu Brath (Redheads Rock)

So Ed Sheeran did quite well at the Brits, didn't he? I felt a bit old watching him perform though, like my mum or gran, wishing aloud he'd put a smarter shirt on, brushed his hair a bit, maybe even shaved. Anyway, the boy seems sweet enough and plays the guitar nicely, in that kind of way a sixteen year old would want her boyfriend to, you know, meaningfully, around a bonfire, probably through a haze of Barcadi Breezer, in front of her friends, who she knows are trying to ignore their own boyfriends crushing beer cans against their foreheads and wishing he was theirs.

Now Master Sheeran has red hair. This fact seemed vitally important to those watching the Brits and recording their thoughts on Twitter. For example I've now learnt that Ed is Prince Harry's brother, most likely related to James Hewitt, and undoubtedly Geri Halliwell's long lost great nephew. Oddly, quite a bit of this redhead nonsense was hurtful. For God's sake, people...stop with the ginga-bashing!! Red hair is bloody gorgeous! So naffing gorgeous that twice a year I spend money - money I could have spent on shoes - adding red hues to my own dull thatch. My middle daughter has red hair - the natural kind rather than chemically enhanced. On the Scale of Red (dark auburn through to strawberry blonde) she is at the darker end, conker-coloured in the winter, lightening to copper in the summer. She has pale skin with cappuccino freckles that pop out like stars at night when the sun winks at her. Along with the generalisations - the fiery temper, for example, (my own little red has the sweetest of natures and literally wouldn't hurt a fly. In fact, if she found an injured fly she would make a Fly Hospital very quickly out of a yoghurt pot and nurse the fly back to full buzz) - what I will never understand is hatred/teasing/bullying of people with red hair.

A few facts: there was a group on Facebook which called itself Kick a Ginger and campaigned to establish a National Kick a Ginger Day. It had 5000 members. Tesco were recently made to withdraw a Christmas card which showed a red-haired child sitting on Father Chistmas' lap with the strap line Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones. In 2010 Harriet Harman - who is a grownup - called the Treasury Secretary, Danny Alexander, a ginger rodent. Mick Hucknall often complained he was called ugly because of his red mop (nothing to do with the snake-hipped dad-dancing or the cringe-worthy proclamation he had sex with three different women a day, then...)

Red hair rocks! We know this. Artists, the translators of beauty into a record of contemporary culture, know this. Titian, Klimt, Modigliani, Botticelli, the entire pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, they all knew this. Perhaps this is why I have such love for red hues in a barnet; it goes hand in hand with my love of art, all that passion in those pensive, lustful, romantic images, tumbling red hair and milky skin. The first painting that stirred me, Toulouse-Lautrec's La Toilette, depicts a flame-haired woman in the process of washing herself, a black stocking adding a flash of the illicit. This painting drew me in, touched me; I was desperate to know what she was thinking about, looking at, what she was smelling and hearing. Lautrec was an aristocratic artist whose growth was stunted by a genetic disorder. Mocked and shunned by many, he steeped himself in alcohol and sought solace in the bohemian lifestyle of Montmatre where his homies were other artists, writers and prostitutes. Lautrec loved women and painted them in a manner that ignored academic convention, that focussed on their inherent femininity and laid their humanity bare. They nearly always had red hair too. He celebrated the copper-top. Revered their russet tresses. The man was a ginger groupie.

La Toilette, Toulouse-Lautrec, 1889 (Musee d'Orsay)
It's time to put the gingerism (racism for the follicly-ignorant) behind us. Consign it to the days when we didn't know better. Leave it to the Loose Women to discuss alongside the likening of breastfeeding in public to a pervert flashing his meat-and-veg at old ladies (yes, a woman on the telebox really said this.) Let's make like artists. Let's love this genetic miracle with a passion that only a true redhead could muster. Let's kiss every one of their precious freckles (maybe only do this if you have a redhead in the family.)
Middle when she was little.
And for Mick Hucknall and his moaning that we think he's ugly because of his ginger locks. I have two words. Damian Lewis. Now there's a RILF...

15 comments:

  1. Surely RIFL must get into the dictionary!! Such a great term. You need to get a by-line going to this post.

    Personally, from a male perspective, and I know most would say Julia Roberts, but my RILF has got to be Jessica Rabbit!! Oh yes, ppppppppleaaase!!

    I hope your daughter does not get this throughout her life. My wife has a hint of ginger, its done her no harm so far!!

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    1. Actually, I'm quite partial to Ms Rabbit, too, Ed. Middle doesn't get any hassle thankfully, and to be honest would think they were weirdos if they teased her - she loves her red! x

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  2. Ha HAAAA - I saw the title and knew immediately I had to ask if you were indulging your love of all things ginge by watching Mr Lewis in Homeland (I am enjoying, so far). As you know, my elder boy has tendencies towards the strawberry end of blonde, so I am with you on this. He too is about as un-fiery as you can get - he would be assisting Middle Daughter in her careful construction of the Fly Hospital. Oh, and don't get me started on Loose Women. Only the Daily Mail raises my hackles further... x

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    1. Yes, am loving Homeland. And even though I don't watch them already loathe the Loose Women - what a load of bollocks they apparently spoke about breastfeeding!!

      x

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  3. Mrs J -
    As ever, you have me laughing out loud all on my own, your writing never fails to make me nearly wee myself. I admit, I am also welling up over your beautiful words about wonderful middle(!)...

    Mick Hucknall belongs in a category of his own, hair or no hair...no mistake

    You are wonderful

    xx

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  4. PS: not meant to be anon!
    From me, Sarah Cotton xxxx

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    1. Thank you lovely, lovely Sarah!! And yes, my 'middle' is lovely...at least the daughter one is, the middle of me is a bit rubbish. ;-) xx

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  5. Loved this and empathised. I'm also touched with the titian stick and what I would do to have my freckles back now I'm in my thirties. Like blooming great grapenuts they were! love your writing lady, esp. Fly hospital in a yoghurt pot :)

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    1. Your picture on your blog is totally gorgeous and completely illustrates why Red is Best!! Thanks for your fab comments. Really appreciated. ;)

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  6. Watch this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw

    My favourite ginger, Mr Minchin, sings about it so eloquently. Myself, I love a redhead. Much maligned hair colour.

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    1. Hahaha - I don't even need to open this link to know what it is! The King. The Man himself. I actually stalk Tim a wee bit, in fact, if you were to trawl back through the blog you would see mention of him quite a few times. And, so, I am guessing that the link you have posted is:

      'Only a ginger can call another ginger ginger'.

      Anyone who hasn't seen/heard Tim sing this song, do take a look. It's fab. The song is called 'Prejudice'.

      ps I haven't actually opened the link, so if it's not Prejudice then maybe someone let me know!! Awkward...

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  7. Mr Lewis. Sigh. When some years ago I pronounced him as my RILF all my mates thought I was gaga. So glad I have found someone with good clear sense and taste at last. All the men I have been most passionate about have been redheads (doesn't my hubbie have the odd red one amongst the fairs?!) and all the prettiest girls too. Fab blog my dear!

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    1. Thanks Jen! Yes... *sigh* here for DL here too. My husband carries the gene but sadly (not really, dear) is dark, almost black, haired, though if the beard starts a'growin then you can see those precious gingers poking their way though. A glimpse of the finer things in life perhaps...

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  8. I heard on R4 a while back that there is some speculation among learned types that red hair is a remnant of stoneage celtic peoples. Maybe the racism is a remnant of that? Doesn't excuse it, but gives a new dimension. I think red hair is so glorious, especially when worn with pink or green dresses. Lovely blog Manda. Cathy x

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    1. Damian Lewis in a pink dress *thinks about it*. Yep...still would...

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