Dumb blonde
Encyclopedia
The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical
perception of blond
-hair
ed women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable. On the other hand, a blonde woman is often perceived as making little use of intelligence, as a "woman who relied on her looks rather than on intelligence."
It can be used as a popular culture
derogatory stereotype to use hair colour as an indication of intelligence. This stereotype is utilized in blonde jokes.
Blonde hair is also a physical trait often associated with "bimbo
s," attractive women perceived as unintelligent or uneducated.
At the same time, people tend to presume that blondes are less serious-minded and less intelligent than brunettes, as reflected in "blonde jokes." The roots of this notion may be traced to Europe, with the "dumb blonde" in question being a French courtesan
named Rosalie Duthe
, satirised in a 1775 play Les curiosites de la Foire for her habit of pausing a long time before speaking, appearing not only stupid but literally dumb
(in the sense of mute).
The notion of "dumb blonde" has been a topic of academic research reported in scholarly articles and university symposia, which tend to confirm that many people hold to the perception that light-haired women are less intelligent than women with dark hair.
) may have some negative consequences and it can also damage a blonde person's career prospects.
, a Broadway
musical
, and two films) explores the appeal of blonde women. The film starred Marilyn Monroe
as the blonde and Jane Russell
as her wise brunette friend. The Encyclopedia of Hair describes Monroe's role as that of "a fragile woman who relied on her looks rather than on intelligence—what some people refer to as 'dumb blond'." At the same time, in the film she demonstrates a certain amount of wit regarding her life position expressed in her hit "Diamonds are a girl's best friend". And when her fiancé's father (who initially disliked her but eventually was won over) asked her why she pretends to be dumb, she answers that men prefer this way.
Many blond actresses have played stereotypical "dumb blondes", including Judy Holliday
, Jayne Mansfield
and Goldie Hawn
, best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
"News of the Future".
In the American sitcom Three's Company
the blond girl (originally Chrissy
played by Suzanne Somers
, and later Cindy
and Terri
) is sweet and naïve
, while the brunette (Janet
played by Joyce DeWitt
) is smart.
In the TV Series Glee
, actress Heather Morris plays Brittany Pierce, a cheerleader who is also a member of the glee club New Directions. Brittany is a stereotypical dumb blonde; sexy and beautiful, but with less intelligence.
The film Legally Blonde
starring Reese Witherspoon
featured the stereotype as a centerpiece of its plot. However the protagonist turns out to be very intelligent and was underachieving due to what she had been taught was expected of her.
Country music
legend Dolly Parton
, aware of this occasional characterization of her, addressed it in her 1967 hit "Dumb Blonde
". Parton's lyrics challenged the stereotype, stating "...just because I'm blonde, don't think I'm dumb 'cause this dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool...". Parton has said she was not offended by "all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. I'm also not blonde."
The author of the comic strip
Blondie
, Chic Young
, starting with "Dumb Dora", gradually transformed his subsequent Blondie into a smart, hard-working, family-oriented woman.
In The Simpsons
Season 21 episode 20, To Surveil with Love
, Lisa faces prejudice from her brunette peers during a debate club meeting because of her blonde hair. In order to teach everyone a lesson and make them realise there are exceptions to the blonde stereotype, she intentionally dye
d her hair dark brown.
Blonde jokes have been criticized as sexist
by several authors, as most blondes in these jokes are female, although male variations also exist. Research indicates that because of this, men find blonde jokes significantly more amusing than women say they do.
Many blonde jokes are variations on other stereotypical jokes. Blonde jokes nearly always take the format of the blond(e) placing himself or herself in an unusual situation, performing a silly act because he or she misconstrued the meaning of how an activity is supposed to play out, or making a comment that serves to highlight his or her supposed lack of intelligence
, lack of common sense
, or cluelessness, or promiscuity
.
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
perception of blond
Blond
Blond or blonde or fair-hair is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color...
-hair
Hair
Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....
ed women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable. On the other hand, a blonde woman is often perceived as making little use of intelligence, as a "woman who relied on her looks rather than on intelligence."
It can be used as a popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
derogatory stereotype to use hair colour as an indication of intelligence. This stereotype is utilized in blonde jokes.
Blonde hair is also a physical trait often associated with "bimbo
Bimbo
Bimbo, in its popular English language usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner...
s," attractive women perceived as unintelligent or uneducated.
Background
Blonde hair has been considered attractive for long periods of time in various European cultures, particularly when coupled with blue eyes. This perception is exploited in culture and advertising.At the same time, people tend to presume that blondes are less serious-minded and less intelligent than brunettes, as reflected in "blonde jokes." The roots of this notion may be traced to Europe, with the "dumb blonde" in question being a French courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
named Rosalie Duthe
Rosalie Duthé
Catherine-Rosalie Gerard Duthé was a celebrated French courtesan. A companion of French kings and European nobility, she has been called "the first officially recorded dumb blonde." Duthé was an often requested subject for portraits, including partial and full nudes, many of which still exist in...
, satirised in a 1775 play Les curiosites de la Foire for her habit of pausing a long time before speaking, appearing not only stupid but literally dumb
Muteness
Muteness or mutism is an inability to speak caused by a speech disorder. The term originates from the Latin word mutus, meaning "silent".-Causes:...
(in the sense of mute).
The notion of "dumb blonde" has been a topic of academic research reported in scholarly articles and university symposia, which tend to confirm that many people hold to the perception that light-haired women are less intelligent than women with dark hair.
Dumb blonde
The dumb blonde stereotype (and the associated cognitive biasCognitive bias
A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable...
) may have some negative consequences and it can also damage a blonde person's career prospects.
Support
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (a comic novelGentlemen Prefer Blondes (novel)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady is a comic novel written by Anita Loos first published in 1925. Loos was inspired to write the book after watching a sexy blonde turn intellectual H. L. Mencken into a lovestruck schoolboy. Mencken, a close friend, actually...
, a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Loos...
, and two films) explores the appeal of blonde women. The film starred Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
as the blonde and Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
as her wise brunette friend. The Encyclopedia of Hair describes Monroe's role as that of "a fragile woman who relied on her looks rather than on intelligence—what some people refer to as 'dumb blond'." At the same time, in the film she demonstrates a certain amount of wit regarding her life position expressed in her hit "Diamonds are a girl's best friend". And when her fiancé's father (who initially disliked her but eventually was won over) asked her why she pretends to be dumb, she answers that men prefer this way.
Many blond actresses have played stereotypical "dumb blondes", including Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday was an American actress.Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before working in Broadway plays and musicals...
, Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
and Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
, best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC...
"News of the Future".
In the American sitcom Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
the blond girl (originally Chrissy
Chrissy Snow
Christmas "Chrissy" Noelle Snow was a fictional character on the sitcom Three's Company. Chrissy was played by Suzanne Somers.In the original unaired pilot to Three's Company, the character that became Chrissy was portrayed by Susanne Zenor. Zenor was not picked for the second filming, so actress...
played by Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
, and later Cindy
Cindy Snow
Cindy Snow is a fictional character on the 1977-1984 sitcom Three's Company, portrayed by Jenilee Harrison during the show's fifth and sixth seasons . The cousin of the character Chrissy Snow, Cindy was phased out to make way for Chrissy's permanent replacement Terri Alden...
and Terri
Terri Alden
Terri Alden is a major fictional character during the final three seasons of the sitcom Three's Company, born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She is played by Priscilla Barnes and is the third "token blonde" on the show ; however, she works as a registered nurse and is portrayed as far less "ditzy"...
) is sweet and naïve
Naïve
Naivety , is the state of being naive—having or showing a lack of experience, understanding or sophistication. One who is naive may be called a naif.- Etymology :...
, while the brunette (Janet
Janet Wood
Janet Wood is a fictional character on the television sitcom Three's Company played by Joyce DeWitt.-Fictional character biography:Janet and Chrissy shared an apartment in Santa Monica, California, and needed a third roommate to pay the rent after their old roommate, Eleanor, got married and moved...
played by Joyce DeWitt
Joyce DeWitt
Joyce Anne DeWitt is an American actress most famous for playing Janet Wood on the ABC sitcom Three's Company.-Early life:...
) is smart.
In the TV Series Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, actress Heather Morris plays Brittany Pierce, a cheerleader who is also a member of the glee club New Directions. Brittany is a stereotypical dumb blonde; sexy and beautiful, but with less intelligence.
Challenges
At the same time, there are many examples where the stereotype is exploited only to combat it.The film Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and produced by Marc E. Platt...
starring Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
featured the stereotype as a centerpiece of its plot. However the protagonist turns out to be very intelligent and was underachieving due to what she had been taught was expected of her.
Country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
legend Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, aware of this occasional characterization of her, addressed it in her 1967 hit "Dumb Blonde
Hello, I'm Dolly
-The World of Dolly Parton and Other Re-Releases:In 1972, it was re-released with As Long As I Love, as "The World of Dolly Parton", discs 1 and 2...
". Parton's lyrics challenged the stereotype, stating "...just because I'm blonde, don't think I'm dumb 'cause this dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool...". Parton has said she was not offended by "all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. I'm also not blonde."
The author of the comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Blondie
Blondie (comic strip)
Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930...
, Chic Young
Chic Young
Murat Bernard Young , better known as Chic Young, was an American cartoonist who created the popular, long-running comic strip Blondie. His 1919 William McKinley High School Yearbook cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name and signature...
, starting with "Dumb Dora", gradually transformed his subsequent Blondie into a smart, hard-working, family-oriented woman.
In The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Season 21 episode 20, To Surveil with Love
To Surveil With Love
"To Surveil with Love" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States on May 2, 2010 as the 461st episode of the whole series. In the episode, radiation seeps out of Homer's gym bag after a bomb squad blows it up and...
, Lisa faces prejudice from her brunette peers during a debate club meeting because of her blonde hair. In order to teach everyone a lesson and make them realise there are exceptions to the blonde stereotype, she intentionally dye
Hair coloring
Hair coloring is the practice of changing the color of hair. Common reasons are to cover gray hair, to change to a color regarded as more fashionable or desirable, and to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching...
d her hair dark brown.
Blonde jokes
There is a category of jokes called "blonde jokes" that employs the dumb blonde stereotype. It overlaps at times with the "sorority girl" series of jokes and the "Jewish American Princess" series of jokes that generally portray the subject of the joke as promiscuous and/or stupid.Blonde jokes have been criticized as sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
by several authors, as most blondes in these jokes are female, although male variations also exist. Research indicates that because of this, men find blonde jokes significantly more amusing than women say they do.
Many blonde jokes are variations on other stereotypical jokes. Blonde jokes nearly always take the format of the blond(e) placing himself or herself in an unusual situation, performing a silly act because he or she misconstrued the meaning of how an activity is supposed to play out, or making a comment that serves to highlight his or her supposed lack of intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
, lack of common sense
Common sense
Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Thus, "common sense" equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have...
, or cluelessness, or promiscuity
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
.
Related stereotypes
- Valley girlValley girlValley Girl is a stereotype leveled at a socio-economic and ethnic class of American women who can be described as colloquial English-speaking and materialistic...
and Essex girlEssex girlAn Essex girl is a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom of a female who is said to be promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from Essex. It is applied widely throughout the country and has gained popularity over time, dating from the 1980s and 1990s...
carry many of the same connotations as "dumb blonde", although they are non synonymous. - BimboBimboBimbo, in its popular English language usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner...