The Dumb Blonde

The stereotypical dumb blonde has been used extensively in television and movies. Next to her hair color, the stereotype has two main aspects: the girl is pretty and she lacks intelligence. Annette Kuhn, the writer of The Women's Companion to International Film, defines the dumb blonde as "a blonde with an overt and natural sexuality and a profound manifestation of ignorance". This can be seen as making up for foolishness by being physically attractive.

Married… with Children featured Kelly Bundy: the attractive, promiscuous teenage daughter. Throughout the series she is portrayed as dumb. In one episode she gets a job as a weather girl (obtained just by being beautiful). She is fired on her first day because she can’t read.

The Simple Life is a reality television show that ran from 2003 to 2007 and evolved around Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. In every episode, the two notably rich girls go out to experience life as “ordinary” people by working in low-paying jobs. The main appeal of the show was seeing how the pair struggled to do the simplest things.

The movie Mean Girls is about Cady Heron’s experience with high school cliques and friendship between competitive girls.  The Plastics are a group of very popular girls that place high importance on clothes, boys, make-up and hair. Karen Smith is the stereotypical dumb blonde of this group (right in the picture). She is pretty, blonde, and extremely stupid. When another character asks Karen what her talent is, she responds by saying: “”I can put my whole fist in my mouth”. She also believes she can forecast the weather by feeling her breasts.

Jessica Simpson is well-known for wondering aloud whether a can of Chicken of the Sea was chicken or fish. Besides her music career, she appeared brainless on her reality show Newlyweds.

It has been argued that the dumb blonde persona puts women at an advantage in the showbiz. Howard Stern was quoted stating of Simpson: "I don't care if she's dumb. That only makes her hotter". Marilyn Monroe, Pamela Anderson and Britney Spears are also seen as examples of the stereotype and have been rich and famous for a long time. So why this appeal for the dumb blonde?

Psychologist Brian Bates argues that blonde hair represents youth. As we have lighter hair and skin when we’re younger, we unconsciously associate blonde hair with being vulnerable, naïve, less intelligent, and less capable. This is perceived as appealing because men are attracted to young, fertile women. Actresses and singers choose to portray this stereotype (even if they are not actually dumb) because their livelihood depends on being found appealing.