By Harry Mulholland
Key Points
- Red heads face discrimination due to their hair colour
- People with red hair feel more sexualised
- Red heads are proud of their hair colour
This week on the Bachelor, contestant Zoe-Clare McDonald had an onscreen meltdown claiming that she was the target of discrimination because of her hair colour. To find out if others agree with her, I spoke to some redheads to hear their opinions.
“Yeah I think we definitely face discrimination for being redheads” says Pagan Harrison-Brown.
She says that she has definitely been harassed over her hair colour, especially on YouTube where she publishes videos on her channel. She explains that there are many stereotypes associated with having red hair such as being the devil and having no soul or being a very angry person, all of which in her case are not true.
Pagan also says that redheads, especially women are very sexualised with people often asking inappropriate questions such as “do the carpets match the drapes”. She also explains that men cop it just as much as women.
This is a sentiment shared by Alycia Pillidge, who also says that she has been sexualised because of her hair colour. “Growing up with red hair, you just get used to all the stupid comments… I don’t care!” Alycia also thinks that it is down to the individual to judge whether they are being unfairly targeted because of their hair colour.
“I think I definitely embody some of the stereotypes of being a redhead, but I think that has more to do with my personality than my hair colour.” she continues.
Shane Crow also doesn’t take any negative comments about his hair personally. He says that everyone gets bullied about something that they can’t help and it’s best to just ignore it. He agrees that stereotypes do exist and can be negative, but like Alycia, he says it all comes down to someones personality and attitude.
Like Pagan and Alycia, he also has faced sexualised comments about his hair colour. “I used to get called Fanta pubes back in high school” says Shane.
Despite some of the discrimination, all three are proud to be red heads and wouldn’t change that anytime soon.
“Every time I dye my hair I miss my natural colour” says Pagan.
“I love my hair and I’ll never change it” exclaims Alycia.
“I guess it helps me stand out and makes my a little bit unique so for that I won’t change it anytime soon.” Shane comments.