An angry North Yorkshire mum has hit out at Health Secretary Frank Dobson's "stupid remark" about redheads.

Sharon Wood and daughter Rhiannon: seeing red over "stupid remark"

Red-haired Sharon Wood, 38, said she had suffered for 30 years listening to people's insensitive comments about redheads - but did not expect redhead prejudice from a Government minister.

Mr Dobson, responding to celebrity DJ Chris Evans' £100,000 donation to Ken Livingstone's London Mayoral campaign, said his mother had always told him to steer clear of redheads.

Mother-of-two Mrs Wood, of Fairfield Road, Tadcaster, fumed: "Frank Dobson would never have got away with a joke about the colour of someone's skin, so why is it generally considered OK to ridicule someone on the basis of hair colour.

"Some people seem to think that because we're redheads, we are bad-tempered, untrustworthy and promiscuous - all completely untrue in my case, I hasten to add.

"One woman I met in my antenatal class, while I was pregnant with my first child, actually said to my face that she did not care what sex her child was or what it looked like as long as it did not have red hair.

"She then looked at me and my red hair, and said no offence meant."

Mrs Wood, whose daughter Rhiannon, 8, also has red hair, said she shared Chris Evans' anger.

She said: "People with red hair go through enough at school already with classmates taking the mickey out of them without Frank Dobson making such stupid remarks.

"I don't think you should make comments about someone's appearance or character, and it's wrong to make snap judgements about people based on the colour of their hair.

"You would think Government ministers would know better, and if Mr Dobson is trying to drum up votes, he ought to be careful what he's saying."

Mrs Wood, a graphic designer currently working as a cleaner, said some people automatically associated red hair with a bad temper and fiery nature.

But she said: "If anything, I'm fairly laid back."

see also 'Proud to be ginger'.

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