The Dumb Blonde
Running Head: THE DUMB BLONDE
The Dumb Blonde
Vitina Kaiser
Maryville University
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The Dumb Blonde
Abstract
This paper will perform a contextual analysis of the concept of the dumb blonde. In the current
media this identity is personified by numerous musicians, actresses and reality television stars.
A brief overview concerning the significance of blonde hair throughout history, starting as early
as the time of Greek Gods, and moving to the invasion of the platinum blonde in the early days
of cinema, will present the obsession with blonde hair. I will continue a discussion of the
media’s contemporary construction of the blonde, and how she is now perceived through media
as less intelligent by Hollywood and society at large. This will demonstrate how the concept of
the dumb blonde can limit one’s opportunities in a professional atmosphere and in everyday life.
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Wikipedia defines a dumb blonde “…as attractive and popular… criticized as lacking in
both common street-sense and academic intelligence, often to a comedic level” (2009). Dumb
blonde jokes have been circulating in break rooms, bars and the internet for quite some time, and
these jokes, along with the media’s portrayal of blondes in film, television, theatre and now
reality television, have led to the stereotype that blondes generally speaking are of lesser
intelligence. This paper will perform a contextual analysis of the concept of the “dumb blonde”
from the 1930’s to today, focusing on the stereotype which diminishes the perceived intelligence
of the individual. It argues that due to this cultural stereotype blondes will always be viewed as
being inferior and sexualized, leading to potentially serious professional consequences.
This stereotype described in the Irish Journal of Psychology by Susan Weir and Margret
Fine-Davis at Trinity College in Dublin that the, “…stereotype might lie in mid-twentieth
century media representations of blondes as beautiful and innocent, yet seemingly mindless
creatures, whose sole aim in life is to capture their respective male’s attention” (pp. 11-12). The
idea of the dumb blonde is not only consumed by stupidity, but by the ability to look good while
acting like an idiot. There is a vulnerability that draws from this identity that is craved by this
country and perhaps world. Men want to overpower and control her while women want to take
care of her or perhaps even be her, which leads to misconceptions that all blondes are weak and
in need of assistance. In 2000 U.S. News and World Report’s Nancy Loftus “…argues that
gentlemen prefer blonds for the fairness of their skin--which makes it easier to detect the flush of
sexual excitement, making them appear more fertile” (p. 52). Susan Weir and Margret FineDavis studied the effect of hair color on personality characteristics and found that men perceived
brunettes to be strong, ambitious and of higher intelligence than blonde women, while blondes
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were perceived as beautiful and as more popular than brunettes. Interestingly enough it was the
same woman in all photographs shown to the test subjects, just with different hair colors.
Blonde hair has been admired, feared, adored, obsessed over, and the object of affection
of numerous prominent individuals throughout time. During the “middle ages the literary images
of Luxury, Lust and Lechery were all inevitably personified as blonde women” (Pitman, 2003,
p. 44). In the Italian Renaissance, “blonde hair was all about the titillation of dangerous
pleasure” (p. 88), and Queen Elizabeth I had all portraits of her, starting with England’s victory
over the Spanish armada, done with blonde hair (her natural was auburn) (p. 105). In Victorian
England blonde woman appeared throughout novels, paintings and poems, taking on many
different personas and representing both the innocent, virginal heroine and the fiendish, sexy
vixen (p. 137). In the 1920’s "dark, lustrous curls or smooth, glossy expanses of straight raven
hair had been the ultimate expression of feminine beauty”. Blonde hair had been associated with
"low-class promiscuity" (p. 170). The first woman to make her mark in Hollywood as a blonde
was Jean Harlow, who starred in Platinum Blonde (1931) (p.183).1 Following suit, numerous
Hollywood starlets began popping up blonde including, Mae West, Lana Turner, Bette Davis and
Joan Crawford.
Perhaps the most famous blonde in U.S. history, who may have single-handedly created
the identity of the dumb blonde, was Marilyn Monroe. When Marilyn Monroe was persuaded to
color her mousy brunette hair to a platinum blonde shade, magic happened. Along with her
curves, half-closed eyes, and that blonde hair, America was transfixed by this movie star. They
followed her interviews, her movies and her unhappy childhood. The question of her
intelligence didn’t matter, America was in love and so was she. She was ultimately fascinated
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with the public’s constant attention, due to what is speculated as an unhappy childhood with a
depressed, mentally ill mother and an absent father (Williams, 2004).2
The prominence of this stereotype was evident in the seventies when America became
obsessed with Farrah Fawcett, and it carried through with Pamela Anderson and her bouncy
blonde hair on the beaches in Baywatch. In the twenty-first century blondes are on every
channel, cinema, and website. The Idea of the unintelligent blonde has become a marketable
commodity that can give life to a struggling career, or could be the lasting impression of blondes
left in the minds of millions. Furthering this fascination is the ease at which anyone can change
their hair color. A large percentage of the blondes mentioned are not natural blondes. It is
estimated that “about 70% of the American population is brunette, making blondes an automatic
standout” (Foege 2004, p.22-24). It is human nature to want the opposite of what you have, so
with less than 30% of the population being blonde that leaves a lot of women and men wanting
golden locks.
Goldie Hawn was another blonde that took America and the media by storm. On Martin
and Rowan’s Laugh In Goldie started her career as a loveable dumb blonde. She admittedly did
not intend to play the role that way, but due to nerves she mixed up the cue cards and would
giggle to cover up the mistakes. The producer and audience alike were hooked by this dumb
blonde image so it was decided to keep her character that way, furthering the idea that media and
the viewer are fascinated with the dumb blonde.3 Farrah Fawcett had her turn in the spotlight in
the seventies. Her character Jill Munroe on Charlie’s Angels, arguably the most famous of the
angels, sent women and girls around the country into their local beauty salon to get that famous
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feathered flip and blonde hair. She was easily recognizable as the most dim-witted of all the
angels, and was often used to flirt with men and lure them away while her fellow Angels handled
the complicated aspect of the mission.4 A few decades later Pamela Anderson was thrown into
our living room on episodes of Home Improvement, and soon became possibly the most famous
blonde lifeguard of our time. There are a large number of dumb blondes that invade our
television sets and movie screens these days, from Paris Hilton on the red carpet, Reese
Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, to Chicken of the Sea’s biggest promoter Jessica Simpson.
Paris Hilton became a fascination for the media as the star strutted down red carpets,
sister in tow. No one cared they had done nothing in their life to warrant such a media circus;
Paris was sexy, untouchable, and blonde.5 Soon after she made a permanent mark in today’s
porn industry with her sex tape, One Night in Paris, and followed by a reality television show
shared by fellow blonde Nicole Richie. Both girls personified the identity of the dumb blonde
(e.g. acting as if they had no idea what a Wal-Mart is while trying to live in a Midwestern farm
community).
Reese Witherspoon took the country by storm in the wildly popular Legally Blonde
(2001). She played the archetypal blonde sorority sister who gets into Harvard Law to pursue
her love. In this role the characters personality traits, and fashion choices clearly stamp her as a
dumb blonde. However as Elle Woods she is one of the first empowering dumb blonde images
of our time. Not only does she get into Harvard but states the question, “…What? Like, it’s
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hard?” She operates as the dumb blonde while preserving her intelligence, and finally discredits,
if only for a moment the dumb blonde myth.6
What Elle Woods did for blondes in this country Jessica Simpson knocked out with one
episode of her reality television show. She was young, blonde, newly married and deliberately
dumb. “Is this chicken what I have or is this fish? I know it's tuna. But it says chicken. By the
sea.”(Imdb, 2003, p.1). With this question she sealed herself in the category of dumb blonde,
and the fascination with her lack of intelligence soared. “Her reality show, The Newlyweds,
which follows her intellectual car crash of a marriage to Nick Lachey… has become the mostwatched show in the USA (overtaking its MTV stablemate, The Osbournes)” (Gannon 2004, p.
12).
Jessica Simpson started her career on her daddy’s arm and in the shadow of other pop
princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. She took a different route, claiming innocence
and virginity as she released bubble-gum pop songs that worked their way into the stereos of
young girls across the country. Soon after she married another pop star, and they had their
wedding and first year videotaped and broadcast to millions. The show became about her and
her increasing lack of intelligence. No longer was she recognized for the pop songs produced for
mass consumption, but for her dumb questions and anecdotes. In 2002-2003 she played Annette
a ditzy promiscuous Farrah Fawcett look alike on That 70’s Show. Following her stint on the
sitcom she appeared in the major motion picture version of The Dukes of Hazzard (2005). She
played Daisy and turned a sexy brunette with brains who always had a way out of trouble, into a
sex-kitten blonde who does more strutting away from the camera than actually talking to it. Not
only did she change the identity of the character to sell theatre tickets, but the movie ended up
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being more of medium to watch her strut around in short shorts. This bomb preceded three more
movies, Employee of the Month (2006), Blonde Ambition (2007), and Major Movie Star (2008).
All three of these movies she portrays the typical dumb blonde who is more interested in fixing
her hair than constructing a complete sentence. Overall playing dumb and starring in bad movies
surprisingly has not hurt her career. Her movies might not be box office smashes and she
probably will not win any Grammys with her new album, but her endorsements, magazine
covers, and constant media exposure keeps her in the spotlight. Overall the height of success for
this young singer/actress has had was when she played the dumb blonde on her own reality
show.7
Is the idea of the dumb blonde a cultural stereotype or a character portrayed in numerous
forms over multiple years, perpetuated by the media? It is no coincidence that producers for
Twentieth-Century Fox immediately capitalized on the idea starting with Marilyn Monroe, as
soon as her affect on the viewers became evident. Erin Flaherty a contributor to Allure
Magazine’s beauty blogs states that according to a study, 67% of females wouldn’t hire a blonde,
and over two-thirds of the thousand women surveyed assumed that brunettes were smarter than
blondes (2008). There are clearly numerous examples of smart blondes, including the late
Princess Diana of Wales, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and journalists such as Diane Sawyer
and Barbara Walters; however, there will never be a shortage of dumb blonde jokes.
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Figure 3
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Figure 7
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Bibliography
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Dumb Blond. (2005, November). Village Voice, 50(45), 27-28.
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Elder, Jeff. (2005, June). Glad You Asked: The Roots of the Dumb Blonde Myth. The
Charlotte Observer.
Flaherty, Erin. (2008, January). Blonde Discrimination. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from Allure
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http://www.allure.com/beauty/blogs/reporter/2008/01/blonde-discrimination.html
Foege, Alec. (2004, March). The Return of the Dumb Blonde. Brandweek, 45(9), 22-23.
Gannon, Louise. (2004, June). Not Such a Dumb Blonde? The Sunday Times, style, 12.
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IMdb.com Inc. (1990-2009). Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. Retrieved April 1, 2009 from
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