Red Hair

Long red hair has for centuries symbolized promiscuity, sensuality, deviousness, and—above all—otherness.

The biblical figure Mary Magdalene, long thought to be, as portrayed by the Church, a reformed prostitute, is one of the earliest and most consistent figures in Western art history to be portrayed with red hair. This depiction communicates sinful lustiness, though there is no description of her hair color in the Gospels.

Mary Magdalene in a Grotto / Jules Joseph Lefebvre, 1876.