Before the joke, there was the omen. Before the omen, there was the god of chaos and a pharaoh whose youth happened to wear the same color. That collision should have been enough to end the “this started in the 1990s” theory.
Americans like a tidy origin story. The redhead slur, they insist, arrived fully formed from a cartoon and a playground. It is a convenient story. It is also incomplete. The hair had already been doing work in the human imagination for a very long time.
South Park didn't invent the ginger stereotype. It popularized one particular version of an idea that had already been circulating in Western culture for generations.
Red hair occupies a peculiar position in the human imagination. It is uncommon enough to be immediately noticeable, yet familiar enough that virtually everyone recognizes it. Rarity creates a paradox. The less common a look becomes, the more it registers. The more it registers, the more some people want it gone from the frame.
Out now, and as always, thanks so much for sticking with me. It is very much appreciated and I hope your weekend goes well.
Be well.
