La Rosa Knows

Scroll to Info & Navigation

Why Taylor Swift’s Comment About Redheads Is Offensive

image

I recently saw the following headline: Taylor Swift Would Date a Ginger Man.

My initial thought was, “What did you say, bitch?” and I’ll tell you why.

She told Monsters & Critics the following: “I like people with red hair. I would do a ginger. I like Rupert Grint, the guy from the Harry Potter films.”

It’s shocking to me for a few reasons. The first, and perhaps most obvious, being the fact that she “would do” anyone. Seems like something I’d say, when sucking back a scotch on the rocks and Google imaging Magic Mike photos.

The second, and most important thing, being that she would think it’s okay to say something like that. “I like people with red hair. I would do a ginger.”

The thing that strikes me is…WHY is that even a thing to say? “I would do a ginger.” It’s not like she’d say, “I’d do a brunette,” or “I’d do a black person.”

It’s as if having sex with a person who has red hair is taboo, and she’s putting it out there. Like, “You know what I’d do that’s crazy? A ginger.”

What? Excuse me?

Don’t get me wrong, I love glorifying redhead men. I think they are extremely attractive and should be featured in leading male roles both onscreen and in everyone’s personal lives.

But when you go on record, as a celebrity, and say, “I would do a ginger,” it’s not okay. You’re not being edgy. You’re not being cute. And, personally, as a redhead, I find it offensive.

I can tell that what she said was innocuous, in her mind. But there’s also another part of it that feels like what she thought she was doing was giving red haired men the world over a solid.

Unfortunately, that’s not what this is. Paul Thomas Anderson saying, “I have a natural attraction to redheads,” is doing us a solid. Because in that sense, he’s treating it as normally as you would if you asked for someone’s preference.

But when you say, “I would do a ginger,” you’re not some big hero. Saying, “Guess what? I’d do one. I’d do that kid from Harry Potter, for example,” is not treating redheads as if they’re equals. It’s saying that we are different. Different enough that most people would not “do” them, but you would. It’s telling your fans that we’re a separate people, and that in no way is a message that I want to be put out there.

This could be a hyper-sensitive redhead diatribe, but maybe this is also one example in many of why things like Kick-a-Ginger day even exist. Because when you reinforce the idea that a group of people are an acquired taste, it doesn’t lead to inclusion, it leads to exclusion.

What do you all think? Am I just another hot headed redhead or do you hear what I’m saying?

Redheads. We’re Being Exterminated.

As if we weren’t going extinct fast enough…

The world’s largest sperm bank has started turning down redhead donors because there’s a “lack of demand” for us.

The director of the sperm bank was quoted as saying:

I do not think you chose a redhead, unless the partner–for example, the sterile male–has red hair, or because the lone woman has a preference for redheads. And that’s perhaps not so many, especially in the latter case.

Excuse me? I am a redhead and a woman. But this pissed me off. Mostly because what he’s saying is partially true.

There has been real and open hatred of redheaded males in the media. Not just in calling them “gingers” but also in relegating redhead males to the role of comic relief (i.e. Ron Weasley in Harry Potter), rather than leading man.

By not showing redhead men in a positive light, it tells the world that they are unworthy, or undesirable. The same way that women who watch too many commercials often feel pressured to diet and work out, as a result of all the advertisements to lose weight.

When is the last time you saw a redhead male in a leading, romantic role? I honestly can’t think of one.

I’d just like to point out a few examples of hot redhead men- if not for my own sanity, then for that of some of the redhead males in my life. My brother, for example, and one of my best friends, Tommy.

Appreciate redheaded men while you can, trust me when I say that you’ll miss them!

Lynn Kegan of HGTV’s “Designed to Sell”

Ewan McGregor

Peabo Powell, a redhead model

Simon Woods in “Pride and Prejudice”

My man, Michael C Hall

Duh, Prince Harry

Robert Redford. Fuck yeah.

Eric Stoltz.

Conan O'Brien. Very Funny.

Rupert Grint.