I've always wondered about this, ever since I started coming across articles online linking it to red hair. "Am I rhesus negative?" I would wonder. Now I know.
I don't think there is any link to red hair in actuality (though I remain open to the idea), other than the general fact that RH negative is more common in Europeans, where red hair is also more common.
A decade ago now I wrote the following in Chapter Seven of my book, where I catalogued some of the weirder things out there on the internet about red hair.
Another variety of blood associated with redheads on-line is the rhesus negative blood type. Rhesus negative blood is linked to all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff on-line - aliens, magical abilities, grail bloodlines, pretty much everything. It's also often claimed that redheads are much more likely to possess rhesus negative blood than others.
Since then there hasn't really been too much progression of the topic. It's the same type of woo-woo stuff, but not really anything concrete. (Unless it's out there and I just haven't seen it yet.)
My Personal Feelings on the Test
[What now follows are my personal feelings on the topic. So it's anecdotal, and should be taken as such.]
I always felt that I would be rhesus negative. Obviously, this could just be bias - I had red hair, so I no doubt saw the online articles and thought, "Yes, I must be rhesus negative, too." Or, I saw the "special" personality traits associated with it and found the thought of being special appealing. So that can't be ignored, and it could just be a lucky, biased guess. However, nevertheless, I did have a good instinctive feeling based on the general information that was out there.
In fact, I actually guessed my entire blood group and not just the rhesus factor before I took the test. Though this was largely an estimated guess based on looking at the distribution of blood groups across world populations. A- seemed about right.
Another thing that was interesting was that I found out my father is A positive (I only found this out yesterday - me taking the test inspired the conversation). This is another thing that I felt I already knew anyway before the confirmation. I say this because my father doesn't have the personality associated with rhesus negative online. He's very practical. He definitely doesn't have a romantic soul.
For instance, to give a quick illustration, this image would mean nothing to him (and not just because it's red-haired).
He's just not the arty, poetic type. My mother, on the other hand, loves this sort of stuff. And, unlike him, she's red-haired as well (though there's red hair on both sides of the family), and I suspect she too would be rhesus negative, though we don't know her blood type (maybe something worth checking).
My father is practical and good with maths. He never reads books, ever. My mother loves art and books (but is hopeless with anything science or maths related). I always feel very lucky that I inherited both sides through the lottery of genetics, even if it did come with the curse of red hair. (Though people may argue my maths and science is failing me here, given I'm putting so much credence in what could be coincidence and anecdote.)
These honest feelings and observations interest me though. It's so interesting that people, even related people, can be so different. The contrast I see in my parents seems hardwired in their personalities (or biology). I don't think any amount of nurture could've made my mother a no-nonsense realist or my father a lover of flowery art. Likewise, the personality differences between me and my father, though I look very much like him, are all too apparent. I'm not saying this is down to a rhesus blood antigen - I'm sure there are plenty of rhesus positive people that look at the above image and find it as rich, beautiful and thought-provoking as I do. It's just curious to me, and worth noting.
It's also worth noting that tests can be wrong too, of course. Maybe the test I took yesterday was wrong and I'm sitting here with rhesus positive blood after all. (It was just a test I ordered off Amazon.) Plus, these things are never as simple in reality. As we've seen with the "red-haired gene," things are always much more complex and nuanced when you start digging down. These things are rarely a simple yes or no.
As I said at the end of the last blog post, more digging is needed. However, between the generic AI "official" science and the online woo it can be hard to get beyond what we already know.
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