Strawberry blonde, reddish, auburn, copper: that's what you hear from someone who refuses to be called ginger, including myself. Ginger slander is something you brush under the rug until you're the one the jokes are aimed towards. I definitely find it funny, but not everyone reacts the same way. 

     I know that when someone calls me a ginger, I immediately laugh and say something along the lines of, “Umm, it's actually strawberry blonde.” This is an immediate conversation starter that lets me show my funny side. I joke about denying the truth and believing I'm blonde, or at least I was 12 years ago. What can I say? It's hard to accept my true colors.

graphic by lorian mcgillicuddy

     With Saint Patrick's Day coming up, the jokes only worsen. The first thing you think of when someone says "Saint Patrick's Day" is about the little ginger leprechauns that wear green, follow rainbows and poop out gold coins. With this holiday, many people draw a parallel between gingers and leprechauns, which is most definitely false. We are most definitely not. I do not poop out gold, although that would be cool. The only things I have in common with them are height and hair. This holiday’s TikTok trends have me excited to be called people’s “little leprechauns” for the next month and getting asked if I can be their leprechaun, like they are asking me to be their girlfriend. 

     For me specifically, the top of my head is blonde, but underneath, the “ginger” peeks through. My mom refuses to let me dye my hair blonde because “people pay to have their hair your color.” I’m sure that's true in some cases, but nobody I know is dying their hair ginger.

     During the summer, the hair jokes settle for me as it lightens from being outside in the sun, but that doesn’t mean the ginger genes or the jokes that come along with them disappear. My skin is filled with freckles and bright red, burnt skin instead of a nice bronzed tan. I would say I have learned to accept it, but I have in fact not, because I live in self-tanner year-round. Ginger hair is not just hair color; it's a whole variation of genes, from pale skin to freckles, to a high anesthetic tolerance. While I love my freckles now, there was once a time when I wanted to get rid of all my ginger traits.

     After years of ginger jokes, I have finally realized that I have been in denial for too long. I can admit that although I consider myself a strawberry blonde, I still stand with the ginger community