| Would you tarry with young Prince Harry? From ginger minge to strawberry blonde, OutUK's own carrot top Adrian Gillan on a crimson fetish, taunts and jibes and why red now has cred. |
|
Look around. One of Nature's rarest assets, Red is reserved for emergencies and
maximum impact: for strawberries and rubies, blood and brothels, roses and robes,
fire and foxes, danger and devils, lipstick and wine. From dusks and dawns to
juicy cherries, She is saying "watch out boys" or "come and get it"!
So is it jealousy perhaps that has somehow subverted the genetic grace and birthright of a red mop into some risible curse, not least amongst boys? |
OutUK Model Dave
| |
|
The jokes in the
showers still echo, the last resort put-down still hurts - up there with my worst
nightmares of gay-hate, and still widespread, not least amongst gays.
As queers, above all, might know, to be different - to stand out from the jeering crowd - is indeed a mixed blessing. And the pressure has proved too great for some with crimson curls. Instead of flaunting their crowning glory, internalised ging-phobia has misled many a red-head into denial, wearing silly closet hats, shaving or dying their pubes or turning into that colourful clown to deflect demeaning darts. The result? We're hair-brushed from history and porn mag alike! There'd be hoards of horny red-haired role-models - from Greeks and Jews through to Scots and Celts - if only their colouring hadn't been hidden or suppressed, except where of use to abuse. | |
| If only queer Michelangelo had painted onto marble David's ravishing red locks; if only Nero'd been photo'd or Cagney and Tracy shot in colour. Moreover, for every Robin Cook, there's a Iwan Thomas; for every Chris Evans, a nice Nicky Butt or Ewan McGregor. And ironically - should a red'n stand his ground - for every boy who flees or jeers, there's also one who drools and leers. |
Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting. Courtesy
AllPosters
|
| I'm constantly astounded at the number of guys who fancy us as fetish. Red hair denudes and exposes. At high risk of ridicule, it's vulnerable, striking and strips you quite bare - like some "I've got ginger minge" sticker slapped to your forehead, as honey lines draw down the bee. Dubbed "Duracell" at school after my "copper-coloured top", I've always felt a soft-spot and solidarity for my red-maned mates - an unspoken mutual and almost carnal knowledge and communion. | |
|
Naturally, there's red and then there's red: a spectrum from pale
strawberry blonde, through auburn and ginger to luminous carotene neon - the redder,
the more stripped and brazen, shameless and teasing, sexy and risky, so often set
off against deep-dazzling sea-blue eyes! And as for two reds in a bed!
Of course, gay red-tops Andy Bell and Jimmy Somerville can croon for England, but there's only one Gay Icon in the land these days. Blue-blooded cutsie Harry - who doubtless gets his red creds from William the Conqueror or Henry VIII - has stolen a march on hunk Prince Willy, inspiring countless private moments amongst a whole new generation of young male red-blooded red-rinsers. |
 Prince Harry |
|
Check out this site for redheads and their admirers www.redandproud.com | |
Courtesy
AllPosters
|
Top Five Red Male Horns: Prince Harry Nicky Butt (Manchester United & England) Ewan McGregor Iwan Thomas David (who smote Goliath; sculpted by Michelangelo)
Top Five Gay/Bi Male Red Icons: |
| Red-head Roll-call: Albinoni, Art Garfunkel, Arthur Scargill, Bamber Gascoigne, Boris Becker, Charles Kennedy, Charlie Drake, Chris Evans, Christopher Columbus, Danny Kaye, David Caruso, Dennis Pennis, DH Lawrence, Galileo, General Custer, George Bernard Shaw, George Washington, Henri Matisse, Henry VIII, Jean-Paul Satre, James Cagney, James Joyce, Jim Davidson, John Glenn , John Paul Getty III (world's richest red-head), Judas Iscariot, Lenin, Mark Twain, Malcolm McLaren, Mick Hucknall, Napoleon, Neil Kinnock, Nicholas Witchell, Oliver Cromwell, Paddy Ashdown, Red Rum, Red Squirrel, Rob Roy, Robert Redford, Robin Cook, Robin Redbreast, Rupert Brooke, Rupert Grint (Ron, Harry Potter), Spencer Tracy, Stalin, Stan Laurel, Steve Davis, Titian, Trotsky, Van Morrison, Vincent van Gogh, Vivaldi, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William the Conqueror, Winston Churchill, Woody Allen | |
