UK Gingers See Red Over Harassment

The UK is ignoring a vicious form of discrimination, the BBC reports—one based not on skin color but hair color. Britain's red-headed schoolkids face bullying, women feel stereotyped, and auburn-haired Britons report harassment with epithets like carrot-top, copper-top, ginger-nut, and even Ronald McDonald.

Photographer Charlotte Rushton shot 300 British redheads for her book, Ginger Snaps, and says all but two have endured torment. The first anti-red hair hate crime may have occurred in 2003 when a 20-year-old was stabbed in the back. "There is nothing like this in the US," one commentator explains. In that enlightened country, "red hair is considered glamorous." (More redhead stories.)