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The dumb blonde is a popular-culture derogatory stereotype
Stereotype

A stereotype is a preconceived idea that attributes certain characteristics to all the members of class or set. The term is often used with a negative connotation when referring to an oversimplified, exaggerated, or demeaning assumption that a particular individual possesses the characteristics associated with the class due to his or her me...
 applied to blond
Blond

Blond or fair-haired is a Human hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment melanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color, going from the very Paleness blond caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment, to reddish "strawberry" blond colors or golden-br...
e-hair
Hair

Hair is a protein filament that epidermal growth from hair follicle deep within the dermis. The fine, soft hair found on many nonhuman mammals is typically called fur; wool is the characteristically curly hair found on sheep and goats....
ed women. The archetypical "dumb blonde", while viewed as attractive and popular, has been criticised as lacking in both common street-sense and academic intelligence, often to a comedic level. The dumb blonde stereotype is frequently used in the popular blonde jokes.

rous actresses have played characters labelled as "dumb blondes", famously including Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
, Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Platinum Blonde" and the "Blonde Bombshell" due to her famous platinum blonde hair, and ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time AFI's 100 Years......
, Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield was an United States actor working both on Broadway theatre and in Hollywood. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s, Mansfield, like Marilyn Monroe, was a Playboy Playmate, and appeared in the magazine several more times over the years....
, Marie Wilson
Marie Wilson (American actress)

Katherine Elisabeth Wilson , better known by her stage name, Marie Wilson, was an Academy Award-nominated United States radio, film, and television actress....
, Judy Holiday (most notably in her Academy Award winning role in Born Yesterday
Born Yesterday (1950 film)

Born Yesterday is a 1950 in film film based on the Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin which was directed by George Cukor. The screenplay was written by Albert Mannheimer with uncredited contributions from Kanin....
), Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers

Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, and businesswoman. Best known for her role as Chrissy Snow on the American Broadcasting Company sitcom Three's Company, she also had a starring role on the sitcom Step by Step as Carol Foster Lambert....
 (primarily for her role as Chrissy Snow
Chrissy Snow

Christmas Noelle Snow, better known by her nickname of Chrissy, was a fictional character on the situation comedy Three's Company. Chrissy was played by Suzanne Somers....
 on Three's Company
Three's Company

Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from 1977 in television to 1984 in television on American Broadcasting Company. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House....
), and Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn

Goldie Jean Hawn is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe- winning United Statesn actress, film director and film producer, best known for her 'dumb blonde' persona in a series of popular comedy....
 (for her persona on the variety show Laugh-In).






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The dumb blonde is a popular-culture derogatory stereotype
Stereotype

A stereotype is a preconceived idea that attributes certain characteristics to all the members of class or set. The term is often used with a negative connotation when referring to an oversimplified, exaggerated, or demeaning assumption that a particular individual possesses the characteristics associated with the class due to his or her me...
 applied to blond
Blond

Blond or fair-haired is a Human hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment melanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color, going from the very Paleness blond caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment, to reddish "strawberry" blond colors or golden-br...
e-hair
Hair

Hair is a protein filament that epidermal growth from hair follicle deep within the dermis. The fine, soft hair found on many nonhuman mammals is typically called fur; wool is the characteristically curly hair found on sheep and goats....
ed women. The archetypical "dumb blonde", while viewed as attractive and popular, has been criticised as lacking in both common street-sense and academic intelligence, often to a comedic level. The dumb blonde stereotype is frequently used in the popular blonde jokes.

Appearances in popular culture

Numerous actresses have played characters labelled as "dumb blondes", famously including Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
, Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Platinum Blonde" and the "Blonde Bombshell" due to her famous platinum blonde hair, and ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time AFI's 100 Years......
, Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield was an United States actor working both on Broadway theatre and in Hollywood. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s, Mansfield, like Marilyn Monroe, was a Playboy Playmate, and appeared in the magazine several more times over the years....
, Marie Wilson
Marie Wilson (American actress)

Katherine Elisabeth Wilson , better known by her stage name, Marie Wilson, was an Academy Award-nominated United States radio, film, and television actress....
, Judy Holiday (most notably in her Academy Award winning role in Born Yesterday
Born Yesterday (1950 film)

Born Yesterday is a 1950 in film film based on the Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin which was directed by George Cukor. The screenplay was written by Albert Mannheimer with uncredited contributions from Kanin....
), Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers

Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, and businesswoman. Best known for her role as Chrissy Snow on the American Broadcasting Company sitcom Three's Company, she also had a starring role on the sitcom Step by Step as Carol Foster Lambert....
 (primarily for her role as Chrissy Snow
Chrissy Snow

Christmas Noelle Snow, better known by her nickname of Chrissy, was a fictional character on the situation comedy Three's Company. Chrissy was played by Suzanne Somers....
 on Three's Company
Three's Company

Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from 1977 in television to 1984 in television on American Broadcasting Company. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House....
), and Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn

Goldie Jean Hawn is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe- winning United Statesn actress, film director and film producer, best known for her 'dumb blonde' persona in a series of popular comedy....
 (for her persona on the variety show Laugh-In).

The film Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde is a 2001 in film comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon, produced by Marc E. Platt for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios and directed by Robert Luketic....
 starring Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer, who has established herself as a one of Hollywood top actresses in recent years....
 featured the stereotype as a centerpiece of its plot.

Country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 legend Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton is a Grammy Award-winning United Statesn singer-songwriter, author, actress and philanthropist, known for her prolific work in country music....
, aware of this occasional characterization of her, addressed it in her 1967 hit Dumb Blonde
Hello, I'm Dolly

Hello, I'm Dolly was Dolly Parton's 1967 debut album....
 (though Parton's lyrics challenged the stereotype, stating "...just because I'm blonde, don't think I'm dumb 'cause this dumb blond ain't nobody's fool..."). Also, saying she was not offended by "all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. I'm also not blond."

Blonde jokes

There is a category of blonde jokes that employ the dumb-blonde stereotype for their effect.

Many blonde jokes are variations on other discriminatory jokes. Blonde jokes nearly always take the format of the blonde placing herself in a situation or making a comment that serves to highlight her supposed promiscuity
Promiscuity

In human sexual behaviour, promiscuity denotes casual sex between many partners. Behavior includes sex with partners who are not one's spouse. It is common in some animal species....
 and/or lack of intelligence
Intelligence

Intelligence is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to problem solving, to think abstraction, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to Learning....
, cluelessness, and clumsiness. The blonde of the joke is often placed in an unusual situation with a brunette or redhead
Redhead

Redhead may refer to:* A person with red hair* Redhead , a North American duck, Aythya americana* A colloquial name for the immatures and adult females of some other ducks, notably smew and mergansers...
.

Blonde jokes have been criticized as sexist
Sexism

Sexism, a term coined in the late 20th century, refers to the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to or less valuable than the other....
 by several authors. Research shows that men find blonde jokes significantly more amusing than women say they do.

Related characters

Valley girl
Valley girl

Valley Girl is a term referred to affluent upper-middle class girls living in the bedroom community neighborhoods of San Fernando Valley.A Valley Girl can be described as materialistic, self-conscious, dodgy, self-centered, hedonistic, physical attractiveness and sometimes sexually Promiscuity....
 and Essex girl
Essex girl

"Essex girl" is a pejorative term used in the United Kingdom, to imply someone is a stereotype promiscuous, blonde, unintelligent woman from Essex....
 carry many of the same connotations as "dumb blonde", although they are non synonymous.

The author of the comic strip
Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story.Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many such strips are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet....
 Blondie
Blondie (comic strip)

File:Blondiemay75012.jpgBlondie is a popular comic strip created by Chic Young and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930....
, Chic Young
Chic Young

File:Dumbdora3729.jpgMurat Bernard "Chic" Young was an United States of America cartoonist known primarily as the creator and original artist of the comic strip Blondie ....
, starting with "Dumb Dora", gradually transformed his subsequent Blondie into a smart, hard-working, family-hearted woman.

See also

  • Bimbo
    Bimbo

    Bimbo is a term that emerged in popular English language usage in the early 20th century to describe an often attractive, non-intelligent woman....
  • Chav
    Chav

    Chav, Chava or Charva or Charver is a derogatory term applied to certain Adolescence in the United Kingdom. The stereotypical image of a chav is a white aggressive teen or young adult, of working class background, who wears branded sports and casual clothing, who often fights and engages in petty criminality,...
  • Ganguro
    Ganguro

    Ganguro is an alternative fashion trend of blonde or orange hair and tanned skin among young Japanese people women that peaked in popularity around the year 2000, but remains evident today....
  • Kogal
    Kogal

    File:Kogal.jpg is a subculture of conspicuous consumption among girls and young women in urban Japan Is is one of several types of so-called gyaru, or peer conscious social groupings....
  • Paninaro
    Paninaro

    Paninaro is a subculture that was born in Milan, Italy during the early 1980s at a fast food restaurant called Al Panino . The subculture was famous for its apolitical nature and its twin obsessions with fashion and Americana, contrasting sharply with the hyper-politicized 1970s....
  • Cheerleader
  • Yuppie
    Yuppie

    The term yuppie refers to an 1980s and early 1990s term for financially secure, upper-middle class young people in their 20s and early 30s....
  • Sex and intelligence
    Sex and intelligence

    Sex and intelligence research investigations differences in the distributions of cognitive skills between men and women. This research employs experimental tests of cognitive ability, which take a variety of forms....


External links

  • - A site dedicated to blonde jokes.
  • - Lyrics to the song that popularised the valley girl phenomenon.
  • - A Little Guide For Big Girls