Saturday 3 March 2012

Bullied for red hair 30 years on

The Sun reports a 35 year old mother from Nottingham having been subjected to retrospective gingerism, three decades on from being bullied at school for the her ginger hair.

Natalie Harvey was targeted by cyber trolls on her Facebook and Twitter accounts, having posted a picture of herself as a child, which began circulating on the internet. Tweets included threats to “pull off your wig and reveal your ginger afro hair to everyone”. Mrs Harvey subsequently contacted police, with one online troll being issued a formal warning.

Mrs Harvey had experienced verbal and physical bullying as a result of her hair colour from the age of five, and upon leaving school used a variety of means to “control” her curled ginger locks, included straightening, dying and use of chemical treatment, before settling on a variety of wigs, with which she is pictured in present day photographs.

She told The Sun that the stress of the bullying impacted on her physical health, and has appealed for an increase in online security to tackle cyber bullying.