Red-headed women have genetically different pain thresholds to the rest of the female population, according to a leading neuroscientist.
And in a separate study, they also have the highest orgasm rate (41 per cent) of all hair types.
Professor Irene Tracey, dubbed the ‘Queen of Pain’, says geneticists are getting closer to understanding why studies suggest that redheads have a lower tolerance to pain caused by heat or low temperatures, but are less sensitive to pain caused by electric shocks.
But she added that the research was challenging because pain was subjective.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today, Oxford University vice-chancellor Professor Tracey said ‘good science and good therapies’ should give hope to people coping with chronic pain, ‘one of the largest problems in the developed world’.
She added: ‘Is there a genetic difference between people having different types of pain – men, women?
‘There’s often a comment about women with ginger hair, versus not, having that different genetic basis for how they experience the threshold for pain.’
A report in the medical journal Anesthesiology said redheads’ pain thresholds were linked to the hair gene mutation which partially switches off a sensory receptor.
Red-headed women have genetically different pain thresholds to the rest of the female population, according to a leading neuroscientist
Isla Fisher attends the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 10, 2024
A report in the medical journal Anesthesiology said redheads’ pain thresholds were linked to the hair gene mutation which partially switches off a sensory receptor. Pictured: Julianne Moore
That changes the balance between tolerance and sensitivity, depending on the type of pain experienced.
Redheads are rare – less than 2 per cent of the global population – which makes them prime subjects for research into anecdotal traits attributed to them.
Meanwhile, a study by University of Hamburg researcher Dr Werner Habermehl made the startling revelations about their orgasm rate.
‘The sex lives of women with red hair were clearly more active than those with other hair colour, with more partners and having sex more often than the average,’ he said.
‘The research shows that the fiery redhead certainly lives up to her reputation.’
A 2022 Czech study of red-headed women concluded that they exhibited ‘higher sexual desire, higher sexual activity, a higher number of sexual partners… and a higher level of sexual submissiveness’.
However, after analysing data from 110 women (34 per cent of whom were redheads) and 93 men (22 per cent redheads), they suggested genetic variations were only one explanation and social stereotyping – the ‘labelling of red-headed women as being more sexually permissive’ – could be a factor.