Redophiles and the milkman joke

[Great comments on Ms. Marvel. More soon on Catwoman (with kitten!) Hawkgirl, Mary Jane, more. For now, some redheaded science]

The biochemistry of red hair, discovered only in 1997, appears to be associated with the melanocortin-1 receptor while the red color itself is produced by an iron compound. The MC1R recessive gene which gives people red hair, fair skin and light eyes is also associated with freckles. The inheritence of red hair is close to what geneticists describe as an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. This means that the parents of red-haired children may carry the gene for red hair but not have red hair themselves. It is this aspect of the inheritance of red hair that tends to lead to the various permutations of the milkman joke.

There are some individuals who describe themselves as redophiles. They have a strong love for, and usually are sexually attracted to, redheads. As in any paraphilia, there are varying degrees to which a self-described redophile holds their desire. While some people favor red hair solely for its exotic aesthetic allure, others are more passionate, and insist on lavishing their attention only on natural redheads because they believe that they possess certain desired physical characteristics such as freckles, or pale skin that never tans.

It is often the case that ginger hair darkens or lightens considerably as people get older, becoming brown or blonde, and this phenomenon leads some to associate red hair with youthfulness, a quality that is generally considered to be a desirable characteristic, particularly among women.

In addition to these physical traits, redheads are also often characterised as being more passionate, feisty or adventurous than non-redheads. This also extends to the stereotype that redheads have particularly "fiery" tempers, and are more easily angered than others.

Many painters have exhibited a fascination with red hair. The colour "titian" takes its name from Titian, who often painted women with red hair.