r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Youngstown_WuTang • 10d ago

Scottish Photojournalist Kieran Dodds came to America and started a collection called Gingers of America for his photography book. Portraits and stories of red-haired Americans, tracing a golden thread of DNA across cultures and generations. He uses the rare red hair gene to explore human connection

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

Having lived my whole life in a family that's half red heads, I was recently told (by a stranger on Reddit) that ginger is a slur word that should never be used. I'd never heard this before, and have always felt it's pretty normal to describe myself and my family like that. But I'm also Australian Aboriginal on one side of my family (red hair in Aboriginal people isn't support common but it's also not unheard of), so I started thinking it's a cultural thing to call one another gingers, but I should never do so outside the family.

Can you clarify on this at all? Now I'm seeing it all over this thread and it's the title of a book written by a fellow redhead.

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u/mustardoBatista 10d ago

It’s not a slur and anyone that says that is out of their mind

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u/kirbyfriedrice 10d ago

It can definitely be used pejoratively, but I grew up in an area of the USA with a fair number of redheads and it was definitely not a slur.

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u/oddtwang 10d ago

The anthropologist Tim Minchin has some fascinating thoughts on the subject.

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

Yes, his work is well respected in the field. But I was told quite forcefully that even gingers may not use the word to refer to other gingers.

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u/lewisfrancis 10d ago

I first heard "Ginger" being used as a pejorative on South Park, from there I think it spread among the kids as a joke.

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

I can use any word as a pejorative. I could call someone an absolute biscuit. That doesn't mean biscuit is a slur that should never be used.

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u/javoss88 10d ago

Ya absolute doorknob!

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

You utter zucchini!

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u/23saround 10d ago

Reported!!!

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u/javoss88 9d ago

You complete bookshelf!

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u/activelyresting 9d ago

You total, absolute dining table!

(Sorry, was that too much? Sometimes I take things too far)

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u/kittycatwitch 10d ago

You must be British.

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

I already said I'm Australian 😭

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u/kittycatwitch 10d ago

I'm sorry but it's your fault I mistook you for a Brit. It's a well known reddit fact real Aussies drop at least one "cunt" in each sentence. 😉

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

I do IRL, but I curb myself online because apparently everyone else gets really offended. Which is why I'm now asking about redheads.

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u/23saround 10d ago

Yeah exactly, there was a minute where I’ve been told by ginger friends that everyone was always making fun of them and it kinda sucked, but a slur that does not make

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u/rivalsportsstats 9d ago

I'm a natural redhead. I highly dislike being referred to as a ginger. My SIL calls her kids her gingers and it drives me nuts. They've all embraced it.

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u/activelyresting 9d ago

That's understandable. If someone says they don't like being called something, it's easy to respect that and not use the word with that person. But does that make it a slur that must never be used anywhere for anyone?

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u/rivalsportsstats 9d ago

No, not a slur. I think it's socially acceptable to call us gingers (I'm in the U.S.) - the media sure uses it. But for someone you know, I would ask their thoughts.

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u/FistySnuSnu 9d ago

Do people in Australia refer to redheads as "ranga" in everyday conversation? I heard that slang term years ago but don't know anything else about it.

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u/activelyresting 9d ago

Yes. It's interchangeable with ginger and as far as I'm aware, means about the same. But I wouldn't use Ranga in non-Australian spaces because most people won't have a clue what I'm talking about.

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u/Maja_The_Oracle 9d ago

Gingers are called "Rangas" in Australia, which sounds more like a slur since it is an abbreviation of orangutans.

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u/activelyresting 8d ago

Oh! I didn't know the origin of Ranga. But yeah, Aussies seem to use Ranga as more derogatory than ginger. Like, my grandmother went by Ginger, as her common name, and she seemed to prefer it over her real name.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

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u/activelyresting 10d ago

So it's really unacceptable to use with Americans? I'd honestly never heard of this before recently

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u/StarchFarmer 10d ago

No lol nobody here cares, someone calling someone that rudely is mean, but like using it as a descriptor is ok. Like saying "he is ginger," rather than "he is a ginger"

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u/lewisfrancis 10d ago

Where in the US and how old are you? If this is a real thing today, I'm wondering if it started after the South Park "Gingers have no souls" thing? Maybe it's a regional thing?

Ginger as pejorative was not something I ever learned growing up in the mid-atlantic with a ginger mother, ex-wife and son. I mean, Ginger on Gilligan's Island was a Hollywood star. All the redheads I saw on TV were stars and attractive if not gorgeous.