Are You A Dumb Blonde?

The phrase ‘dumb blonde’ has been around for centuries. The stereotype that a blonde girl with blue eyes has a low IQ, only wears pink, and is always shopping- with her daddy’s credit card of course!!! The phrase dumb blonde can be very harmful, particularly for young girls. Can you believe that some people actually believe that every blonde girl is dumb? Because of course, hair colour determines your intelligence. But why are we continuing to use the out-of-date phrase? And where did the stereotype come from?

It is thought that the phrase dumb blonde originated from a play hundreds of years ago, but it resurfaced in the media when Howard Hawks's 1953 film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ hit box office. Marilyn Monroe's character Lorelei is the epitome of a ‘dumb blonde’. In contrast with Dorothy, another character in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, who is seen as smarter and more capable, and what a surprise, Dorothy is brunette. One of Marilyn Monroe’s famous lines in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is ‘I can be smart when it’s important, but most men don’t like it’. This really emphasises the stereotype. Years after the release of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes we can still see the stereotype of the dumb blonde seen in the entertainment industry. Most films include a dumb blonde but why? Is it for comedic value? Is it for sex appeal?

Blonde girls all over the world have been called a ‘Dumb Blonde’. But why are we still using the term today? Blonde is a hair colour, it does not defy your level of intelligence. Can’t we just get rid of the phrase and start realising that blonde is a colour, not a personality trait.

© Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / Howard Hawks / Marilyn Monroe