“Beat and spit for my red hair, but now I’m running for Miss …

by Letizia Cini

“Red hair, don’t care”. Word of Jessica Feeson her Instagram profile: the wonderful creature with tawny hair has told through social media and media that she has been bullizzata during adolescence, just due to the color of her hair. From being bullied in high school for red hair, Jessica Gagen has however found her revenge by becoming a Miss and now aiming to wear the headband. Miss World, the first red-haired queen. But her path was not easy: she was punched, spit and even burned because of her red hair and had to endure the torment of cruel classmates for years.

But once she got older, she enrolled in an academic yearmodeling agency and his self-esteem and self-acceptance she grew up as she hit runways around the world – and was even runner-up to Miss England.
These days the readers of the English tabloids have been struck by the revelations of Jessica Gagen, runner-up to Miss England who today could compete in the prestigious competition to become Miss World.

Although the 26-year-old girl preferred to keep quiet about her past during the contest, she now wanted to share her story to explain what her biggest dream is. “During secondary school – the equivalent of our high school -, I was teased, attacked, because I was red. I didn’t mention it much during last year’s contest because I’m a big believer in leaving negativity in the past, ”the model explained to the Mirror.

Jessica’s Battle

“But since there has never been a red-haired Miss England, I feel it’s important to educate people about what redheads go through school – continues Jessica Gagen’s story – and empower the children who are facing them. same things that I had to face “. Her childhood was marked by quite violent episodes, which she chose to tell in the course of the same interview: “I was hit, they spat on me and things were thrown in my head several timesbut the worst was when a girl got me burned because I had red hair “.

Discrimination and body shaming

Despite not having won Miss England, the young British woman managed to pass Explore the Nation at the same event and, therefore, has the opportunity to participate in Miss World: “I think it would be so nice if there could be someone in the kind of position that is a redhead. Also last year there was no redhead in the competition “

The beauty has no colorand not even the skill, neither as regards the skin nor for the various others human ‘accessories’, hair, eyes.. the smile, then, is universal. It is therefore already a victory in itself that a person victim of discrimination and body shaming at a young age – in this case because of her hair – has today become a popular model and many today admire her precisely because of the colors. her. A small pearl strung in the necklace of inclusion.

From ‘Rosso Malpelo’, the prejudices on the tawny hair

As pointed out by the same Jessica Fees, many people are still victims of discrimination due to the color of their hair. The reasons are certainly to be found in the rarity of people who are born with hair of this color, but also in the beliefs that have been handed down about them since ancient times – and which obviously have no scientific basis.

“They stink”, “They are bad, impure”. The ancient Egyptians – who revered animals with tawny fur and often had red-haired pharaohs – believed that the color was the bearer of serious misfortunes and often the girls with the hair of this color were burned or even buried alive.

In Greece instead the ancients believed that people with this rare pigmentation in their hair turned into vampires after their death. However, prejudices never ended and even later, in the Middle Ages and beyond, the color red was associated with the Devil and often women with this hair color were persecuted because they were considered witches.

The English singer Ed Sheeran he confessed a few years ago: “As a child I was bullied because of my red hair“. The Net is full of similar stories: isolated children, teased, with their hair clipped by their classmates. It is a prejudice that has endured over the centuries: already in the Middle Ages, red was considered the color of the devil, of evil, of an exaggerated and vile sexuality. And even today those who are born peeled for carrots – 2% of the population world – is viewed with distrust: “They are bad, crafty, unreliable”, are the most common comments. “Birboni”, defines Giovanni Verga as the protagonist of the short story ‘Malpelo ‘red.

Ginger pride

But by dint of hearing and being subjected to it, the reds have brought out their pride. And the Ginger pride it is now an international movement.
He was born in Italy We Reds, a site dedicated to all those who share this characteristic. He founded it Francesca Di Pietro, coach, psychologist “and naturally red”. She too had confided that, like Jessica Gagen, she had been bullied in school: “For this reason I was considered the different of the group. The mutation of the MC1R gene, responsible for rutilism – as the fact of having red hair is called – has a series of medical implications that should not be underestimated: very pale skin and prone to sunburn, higher risk of developing melanomas, ocular hypersensitivity. “I started hating nature for making me like this – she remembers Francesca Di Pietro in La Stampa -. Fortunately today there is more attention. But sometimes, mothers and fathers underestimate the special attention, especially in summer, that a red child must have. On my website I would like to address them first of all “.

Jessica Gagen’s wish

Jessica Gagen is now hoping to be the first English Miss World red finalist after being bullied for her red hair as a child: “This year I’m going for Miss Liverpool, so we’ll see how it goes. The final is on August 25th. Then there are the Miss England finals – Jessica tells the Mirror -. If all is successful, Miss World will be by the end of the year. For me, competing in Miss England, my mission last year and this year was and remains help people get girls involved in Stem subjects. But after realizing there has never been a red winner, I looked back and was thinking there aren’t that many reds in TN. I think it would be so cool if there could be someone in that kind of position who is a redhead. Even last year there wasn’t a redhead in Miss World ”.