Wed, Aug 16 2006

Red-heads

There seems to be a flurry of news reports this morning on some research done by a fellow in Hamburg, Germany. He claims that redheaded women in Germany have sex more frequently and have more partners.

The professor has a right to do research, of course, but doesn't this sort of thing perpetuate some already worrisome beliefs in current society? People have a little fun with these studies and forget that some individuals take these things seriously and also take them to the most perverted degree possible.

Also, where were the redheaded men in this study? And why was the study done only on women in the country of Germany? Did the study include women from many races? What about men or women from ethnic groups that rarely exhibit red hair? The social implications of even doing this sort of study are a little disturbing to me. We already live in a society where the expectations of dating have little to do with a person's character and everything to do with a person's ability to provide quick sexual satisfaction. Promiscuity and surface attraction will win out in the short term almost every time. That's certainly not news. I'd like to see someone do a study on which people are most likely to stay by their romantic partner's side through the good times and the bad times of a real relationship and still say they'd choose the same person to be with if they had it all to do again.

I was wondering about something else. Why do we say "redhead" but not "brownhead"? The term "auburn" defines reddish-brown hair and we speak of blondes and brunettes, but we don't seem to have a non-hyphenated English word for someone with red hair.

posted at: 09:52 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry