This Woman Is Trying to Save French Gingers from Extinction

This article was originally published by VICE France.

Like most other minorities around the world, gingers tend to get a lot of shit. Here in France they make up only 5 percent of the population, but that doesn't mean that French gingers are ready to go gently into that good night. Leading the effort to replenish the carrot-top dating pool are two natural redheads named Alice and Gerald, who started Lyon's "Ginger Parties."

The aim of the event is to get as many French redheads as possible drunk together in the hope that some of them will end up fucking each other, ensuring the survival of their "species." I got in touch with Alice for a chat.

VICE: Hey, Alice. How did you come up with the idea for your Ginger Party?
Alice: My friend Gerald and I got drunk one evening over the Christmas holidays and we talked about us both being ginger. He already works as an event planner, so we thought it would be fun to set up an evening for gingers. Mission accomplished—I'd never seen so many gingers in the same room before.

You're from England, where I believe there are more redheads than in France. Was it shocking when you moved to France and didn't see as many people with the same hair as yours around?
A little, yeah. As a redhead, I have a good "ginger radar" and I felt a little lost here. But things are better now that we have our parties.

And you organize one event per month, right?
That's right. The next one is on Monday, April 6. Right now we hold them at the Johnny Walsh bar, in St. Georges, Lyon. I usually work behind the bar together with the bar owner. He's cool and he's made certain price reductions just for redheads. We also primarily serve cocktails that contain whiskey and ginger ale, and pints of red beer to stay in the theme.

Have you suffered any discrimination as a ginger?
Yes, I had a little trouble with that as a kid. I even had to change schools because of some assholes who would bully me in the playground. I once went back to my old school after that, and I slapped that group's leader who used to harass me. I felt much better afterward. But I think children are just inherently cruel.

I've heard that a bunch of ginger-hating bullies started gathering in front of your bar, wearing red wigs just to make fun of your events. Do you let them in?
We do not discriminate against non-gingers—we don't want to stoop to their level. A friend of mine played music at one of our events wearing a wig a while back, and others followed his example the next month. Another friend of ours dyed his beard red to come to our party, and now he is thinking of keeping it that way.

Good for him. According to a controversial study published last year in The Independent, gingers are facing extinction. Are your parties also aiming to bring people together in a place full of alcohol to promote copulation and the reproduction of the "species"?
I also have heard that we are endangered. They say we have 60 years left on this planet because of global warming—at least that is what this study claims. I guess I did have that in the back of my head when I came up with the idea.

We're actually thinking of asking for a permit to become a redhead swinger club—we might call it "The Sweaty Ginger," or something like that [laughs]. I mean, if these parties increase our chances to get laid, then that's great.