Kick a Ginger day

My mother was a school nurse on the 30s and 40s. She says that when inoculating school children they used to put the red heads at the back of the queue as they made more fuss!!!!!! So politically correct, just imagine.

My dgd has wonderful red hair, I don't think she has been bullied about it and dearly hope not. She is certainly not at the back of any queue as far as I can see.

Slightly OT but 'titian'-related - when I was doing an OU course I read of some ancient Greek, I think it was Herodotus - remarking on how people would always imagine their god(s) as resembling themselves. So if horses worshipped a god, they would see him/her as a horse, Nubians would see him/her as black, and a Thracian god - Thrace I think is now in or near modern Greece - would have red hair!

I found that very interesting, having always seen red hair as a more Celtic/Scots/Irish feature.

trisher, you are right and social media fans the flames.

I have just looked this almost unbelievable idea up and there are whole websites about it. It is just sick.

varian I was ginger too, and got called names, but not in a nasty way.
Worse was being teased for being a 'swot'.

It's amost medieval in it's ignorance and stupidity. I can't believe that any sane person could think this is acceptable.

I've looked it up too and as someone says it originates from the Southpark tv show. It was meant to be a serious example of how a deluded person can pick on someone who is 'different' and churn up the masses to turn on them. As in Germany in pre WW2.
I hope this isn't a sign that these extreme right views are returning.

'Altercation' is a euphemism that used to ne used by a Headteacher when I asked her to deal with the bullying in her playground. When I told her a child was repeatedly beaten up by 4 boys at breaktime while the two Midday Supervisory Assistants chatted obliviouly over their coffee in one corner of the playground, the Head said ah,yes, but you couldn't avoid litle altercations in the playground and that a bit of rough and tumble was healthy.

I think my ginger haired granddaughter will kick back...I hope others do as well. I abhorvialance of any sort but I know my granddaughter. Her mother once stood up to a bully...punched her. Mind you it did end up with the lunch causing a broken bone in her hand. BUT...it did stop the girl bullying...think the black eye made her think.

Maybe there should be a new saying 'Redheads don't get old, they just fade away.'

I don't think I'm particularly prone to pain or bleeding, luckily. I don't have typical redhead colouring, though. I have dark brown eyes and skin that tans, with few freckles. Maybe that makes a difference.

Totally unacceptable and needs to be nipped in the bud in this country!

Yet another form of abuse.

What is wrong with people and, in this case, children? They need to be told that such behaviour is totally out of order and will not be tolerated.

Kick a Ginger day does come out of the states. Specifically, it is tied to the satirical comedy show South Park. In an episode "Ginger Kids" people with red hair, pale skin, and freckles are targeted in a class presentation put on by Cartmen, the shows most narrow minded and often derogatory character. The speech ends out escalating into a ridiculous movement in which the majority the school and eventually the town discriminates against the "Ginger Kids". The episode is an obvious parallel to the holocaust, but does succeed in tastefully (as tasteful as south park can be) delivering the message about how easily one person can influence the opinions of the masses, and create stupid hate and discrimination with absolutely no reasoning behind it. The episode is as much a warning as it is a mindless comedy, and as a JOKE, fans of the show have created the event "kick a Ginger day", mostly because the show does deliver a very compelling and humorous argument against redheads................

It comes from a cartoon show called South Park which is pretty dreadful and aimed at teens and young adults. If you google it they say on the strap line at the top of the page that it's a joke and don't kick anyone but I don't suppose kids will pay much attention to that! ~The schools need to be on it

I much prefer auburn to ginger. My 14 year old DGD has the most beautiful dark auburn hair & pale Celtic complexion.As far as I know no-one has teased her about it. I hope schools will come down hard on anyone who is so rude & cruel

This is just racism. Why is it ok to harm someone because of their hair, but not skin colour? The government should criminalise all hate bullying not just race ,gender, sexuality etc

This is really spiteful and I hope the school punished those being nasty and supported the victims. This South Park show was on very late on T V and no school aged child should be up at 11.30pm. I brought my children to understand on the outside people may look different but inside we all have blood, bones and organs like the heart that needed caring. A great pity more schools don't educate children to this fact.

Here in Denmark a sixteen year old boy has been severely hurt and many of his class-mates are on suspension from school, when the birthday custom of delivering sixteen playful thumps when congratulating the birthday boy got out of hand. The headmaster has reported it as violence to the police after talking to the boys and their parents.

Some years ago we had a similar problem with "Happy Slapping" which definitely spread over the internet ,

The birthday thing is older than that, but usually it was only good fun, although most teachers, myself included, stopped it, if we saw it going on and explained to the class that it was a bad idea, as that sort of thing can get out of hand.

I think we all need to be aware of "fun" turning to violence these days.

Sorry, I forgot, red-haired children have always been teased at school, I was a red-head as a child, so I feel it very definitely should be stopped.

Attitudes can be changed, I don't think children wearing glasses are as badly teased now, as when we were children, but perhaps I am wrong.

Smileless2012 - of COURSE it wasn't advocated by the school. If anything, it's racism promoted by the internet, because red hair is genetically tied to Northern European races. I do hope any kids caught indulging in this obscene bullying are suspended for a few days to bring it home to their parents that it is a parental duty to educate your children in moral responsibility.

Thank goodness this wasn’t a thing when DS1 (now 26) was at school. It wouldn’t have ended well for either of them! I think his red hair is beautiful and he gets it from DH, who is now grey.

Can't say I have ever heard of it, I haven't seen it anywhere and I'm pretty sure it didn't happen at my GS school. It sounds as though it is something someone did as a sick joke and an excuse to bully it is absolutely terrible I agree with other posters.

Ginger abuse did not come from the USA. The term "ginger" is not used in American culture. No kicking is allowed in public schools without consequences in the US.

I was completely appalled to read this and when I looked it up, I found that it originally came from a cartoon series called South Park from America. Why do we always have to follow American trends? Can’t we find any nice ones for ourselves.
My neighbour’s son has dyed his hair since he was about thirteen because of the name calling and bullying. The schools (and parents ) have to jump on this really hard and put a stop to it.

To my horror, my ginger son left it until his mid teens to tell me he had been bullied about his hair colour every day of his school life.

How horrid. I would have thought the fame of Ed Sheeran and popularity of Prince Harry would have helped to cut out this ginger hatred.