If you have to get into the Tardis and fight aliens threatening to destroy the known Universe, we know who we want along for the ride.
We have to confess, Dear Reader, to a slight weakness for redheads. Well, a full-blown can’t-stand-up-properly-weak-at-the-knees weakness if the truth be known. Many of our male colleagues agree.
Recent news that scientists in Scotland reckon the red-headed gene (Scotland has more redheads per head of population than anywhere else in the world, by the way, such as Dr Who’s Karen Gillan, pictured left) may start to die out has cast a generation of ginger-fans into a gloomy funk.
Apparently global warming means less cloud cover in Scotland which reduces, for some strange reason, the need for the gene. The fact that the change will take generations is hardly the point.
Interestingly, there is some genetic basis for “Gentlemen prefer redheads”.
Genetic diversity is attractive, and redheads possess a number of genetic traits that make them preferred mates.
Game of Thrones boasts its fair share of adorable red heads.
1. Peacocking: Bright hair color draws visual attention. Also, the relative rarity of the recessive trait means that those of us lucky enough to successfully mate with a redhead will get to pass those genes along with our own: meaning that the next generation will want to get jiggy-jiggy with our progeny, which is good for our survival in the gene pool, donchaknow.
2. Fair skin: In pre-industrial societies, fair skin was indicative of wealth and status, both things we find attractive, as it was a visible sign that the person had enough wealth to NOT work in the fields. We may have some distant cultural, hormonal or genetic memory of that.
3. Redheads have a well-known higher threshold for pain: Makes them more resilient to be our partner in the race of life.
4. There might actually be some truth to the myth of the lustful redhead. A recent study by a sex researcher in Hamburg, Germany found that women with red hair had sex more often. Another survey in England duplicated those findings, and reported that redheads had sex an average of three times per week, compared to twice per week for blondes and brunettes.
We’re so glad to discover that we aren’t just deeply obsessive and weak-willed.
Gulp.
Coz that means there’s a good strong genetic reason for us having a monster crush on Emma Stone, too.
Though the genetic reason for us going all heart fluttery at the sound of her adorable little lisp is more obscure …
And that’s before we even get onto Sophie Turner from GOT, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher, Kate Mara, Scarlett Johanssen, Renee Olstead, Alicia Witt, Rachelle Lefevre, Evan Rachel Wood, Bella Thorne, Simone Simons et al …
(Right, that’s enough hot redheads for today: Ed.)
Well, This Is What I Think 