With Seth Fornea destroying his competition on The Ten and a consistently growing pro-redhead faction of the gay community, it’s easy to forget that some of these guys who were “kissed by fire” might have been bullied when they were younger. (Though, presumably, it’s much easier to remember this if you were one of them.)
London-based artist Thomas Knights addresses the stigma attached to being a redhead in his project RED HOT, which will be moving beyond the online world in an exhibit opening this December. Here’s an excerpt of what he has to say about the project:
“In the UK and throughout the world, being ginger and male comes with many stigmas attached. Many are bullied at school and for some, even later in life. As far as I can see, no one has focused (or noticed) the huge, polarised gap between the way our society perceives red headed women (often the ultimate woman – think Jessica Rabbit) and red headed males (often emasculated and de-sexulised in film and TV – no Hollywood heroes – no leading men).
“No other hair colour has this level of gender inequality in any society, and RED HOT holds a mirror up to the pre-conceived limitations we put on the red headed males. Essentially, what I’m doing is creating an exciting and revealing exhibition showcasing a positive outlook on the red-haired male, and aiming to re-brand the ginger male stereotype along the way.”
Some of you might be rolling your eyes at the idea that redheads, of all people, are subject to persecution, while the rest of you might have been nodding your head in agreement as you read through the paragraphs above. Either way, we can all agree that these are beautiful photographs, right?
– Dewitt
Photo credit: Thomas Knights
Take a look at a few images from the “RED HOT” project below:
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Oh my! Yup, this will get me there. Pardon me while I check on the price of a flight to London.
I don’t get it… I keep on reading here about bullying and discrimination against redheads and it sounds chinese to me. Where I come from (Barcelona), there’s no stigma related to redheads nor do I remember any bullying between children for this reason…
I’d do terrible, dirty things to every single one of them.
Any one of these men could spend the rest of his life with me!
I think this assemblage of photos should be this week’s Ten and see how folks sort it all out among this fine, fine, fine crew of gingers. Excuse me while I go re-watch the naughty bits of Savage Grace (with the delectable Eddie Redmayne).
WOW! I’ve got a raging hard on right now! I’m part of a new club too! The “pro red-head faction of the gay community”. I elect myself President…and cock sucker, rimmer, top, bottom……
I find myself immediately stopping in my tracks, cutting my conversations mid-word, and starring incessantly with my mouth hanging open when I see a stunning man with red hair. For some reason I lose all confidence around them and become more awkward than usual. Even spilled coffee all over myself when I managed to build up the guts to talk to one who was reading a book in the Dune series (I had the following book in my bag at the time). Perfect combination of athletic ginger and geek.
It happens I’m a ginger and yes i was bulled in school. Fortunately by my senior year that all ended but for the life of me i never knew why i was being bullied.
agreed, i guess this is just one of those things that we “yankees” have never picked up from the other side of the pond. Cause i definitely can’t ever recall EVER in 30 years even hearing of a red-headed male being teased simply because of his hair. Maybe a few comments made in anger toward freckles, but never once about his hair. And for the record… i absolutely love a natural ginger over most blondes hands down. P.S, from illinois in case anyone was wondering what rock i may or may not live under
Ever notice how redheads have the pinkest nipples too
I have never been so turned on by red-heads before…
The Ginger with the piercings needs to call me. Seriously.
I want a normal, hairy chested, ginger with an OK build and a normal guy-next-door qualities who likes putz’s like me! 😉 That’s not asking to much is it?