Discrimination against British 'gingers' has them seeing red

By Shelley Emling
international staff
Sunday, August 12, 2007

LONDON — Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Marcia Cross. Who wouldn't want to look like any one of these three gorgeous redheads? Perhaps someone living in Britain, where being a redhead often means a lifetime of discrimination.

Classic British playground taunts such as "tut-tut ginger nut, where d'ya get your hair cut?" have evolved in recent years into more nasty matters.

"Discrimination against redheads seems to be getting worse and worse," said Simon Cheetham, founder of www.redandproud.com, a Web site that seeks to counter discrimination against redheads — called "gingers" here — by honoring those with flaming tresses.

"In this politically correct world you can't say anything about people's religion or sexuality but it's still OK here in Britain to portray redheads in a negative manner," he said.

Earlier this year the Chapmans, a family that included six redheads living in Newcastle, England, told the British media they were forced from two homes by relentless attacks that included anti-redhead graffiti, vandalism and physical assaults.

Then in late June, British waitress Sarah Primmer, a mother of three, was awarded $35,000 in compensation by an employment tribunal after suing her boss for lewd and hurtful comments related to her red hair.

And just last month, at the much-publicized Memorial Concert for Princess Diana, Prince Harry reportedly asked 14-year-old Maxine Broadfoot — winner of an award for peer counseling given in his mother's name — whether she might counsel him on the bullying he's received due to his red hair.

Broadfoot told the British media she thought he was joking but Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, later said he had been serious about being taunted. His Army buddies, for example, apparently have nicknamed him the "Ginger Bullet Magnet."

Cheetham says he understands what Prince Harry's talking about, adding that he's suffered abuse all his life.

He said he decided to launch his Web site after strolling through London and being called some especially derogatory names by a stranger on the street because of his red hair.

"If a tenth of the things said about redheads were said about skin color, these people would be dragged into court," he said.

British photographer Charlotte Rushton, too, said people have literally spit on her because of her red hair.

"Redheads are significantly maligned in this country and the eternal question is why," she said in an interview. "It could date back to Shakespeare who used red wigs on his most menacing characters."

Others say that discrimination against redheads dates back to the Middle Ages, when people with red hair were often thought to be witches.

Britons' particularly unusual attitude towards redheads also could be linked to an atavistic hostility towards Scotland, where about 13 percent of the population has red hair compared with only 1 percent of the world's population as a whole.

In the United States, an estimated 2 percent to 5 percent of people are born with red hair.

Because the gene that causes red hair is recessive, researchers say it is diluted whenever carriers have a baby with someone who has the stronger brown hair gene.

Owen O'Neill, a red-haired British comedian, hosted a BBC documentary in May called "The Ginger Gene" that encouraged more redheads to have children.

O'Neill said he loved being a ginger although he admitted that people on the street sometimes yell out "Oi, Ginger!" whenever they see his red hair.

In general, the disdain for redheads in Britain is often so great that — besides a baby's sex and weight — the first question new parents are asked is if their baby is a ginger.

British model Katie Price, who goes by the one-word name Jordan here, caused a stir earlier this month when she said of her new red-haired daughter Princess Tiaamii: "I love her anyway, even if she is a ginga."

Debbie Sparey, a London mother of a red-haired daughter, said people may treat redheads differently simply because they stand out.

"I think it's purely the fact that they look different with their freckles and pale skin," Sparey said. "The interesting point is that it is generally the younger generation who will mock redheads while most older people tend to think they are lovely."

In the end, it could just be that people are jealous.

"Is it possible that we are so ridiculed throughout our lives because we dare to shine, gleam and glisten with the most vibrant array of reds while most British people have mousy hair?" Rushton asked.

Rushton has photographed hundreds of British redheads for an as-yet unpublished book, "Ginger Snaps: A Celebration of Carrot Tops."

Unfortunately, Rushton said, the color is known in Britain as ginger, which rhymes with "whinger," or whiner. So if anyone ever complains about their bad treatment they are automatically labeled a "ginger whinger."

"But we redheads have the last laugh because, in spite of it all, we love our hair and love standing out," she said. "I know I do."