Apparently blonde women bring out the dipshit in men. And dumb studies bring out the dipshits in newspaper articles:
Although the finding appeared to reinforce the influence of stereotypes on behaviors and abilities, “EastEnders” and “Doctor Who” star Michelle Collins had a different take.
“I don’t think it’s to do with hair at all; it’s all about the breasts,” the blonde actress told the newspaper.
Of course it is.
Thanks to NYQ for the link.
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Funny, though… I’m a natural blonde (though it’s probably light brown and grey at this point in my life) and when I dyed my hair red eight years ago, I suddenly found that people treated me like I was far more intelligent. They now seem to assume I’m A) Irish (I’m French Canadian and English) and B) a bitch. I’m not sure which is worse.
That’s not true. Being blonde was worse. Which is partly why I dyed it.
I just recently transferred from a lifetime of blonde to a rich red-brown, and almost instantly my life has improved. I’ve been short, curvy and blonde (“cute”) my whole life, but my personality tends to run more towards a mixture of Elizabeth Bennett and Toby Ziegler… and people just couldn’t handle the disconnect. Cute little blondes are supposed to be bubbly! And cheerful! And not to be taken seriously!
The turnaround in attitudes since I’ve changed haircolour is astounding.
Articles that degrade blonde women increase their tendency towards anger and aggression, a study has found.
University of Paris X-Duncterre professor Thierry Misogynir said the study he co-authored found that when women are exposed to asinine articles claiming that blonde women induce stupidity in male bigots, their mental aggression inclines due to a prevailing indication of idiocy, The Sunday Times of London reported.
The social psychology professor, who allegedly has far too much time on his hands, said study subjects were given general knowledge tests after being exposed to a variety of misogynistic articles claiming that men unconsciously to begin to “think blonde” (blonde naturally being the equivalent of stupid) when in the presence of a blonde babe.
“Such studies serve only to justify stereotypes and sexism,” claims an angry blonde interviewee. “However, blondes have the potential to make people act in a dumber way, because they mimic the unconscious stereotype of the dumb blonde,” claims Misogynir.
Although the finding appeared to reinforce the influence of stereotypes on behaviors and abilities, sane and rational and intelligent inhabitants of this planet generally agree that it is the bigots who perpetuate the stereotypes by giving them life.
No word as to whether the blonde in question must be conventionally attractive in order to achieve the effect, but this author assumes it is an unspoken requirement.
asdf FTW!
While the idea that there is a dumb blonde effect which is contagious is stupid and insulting, from my observations, dealing with extremely hot members of the appropriate sex distracts both men and women. But the effect goes away with repeated exposure (“Oh yeah. It’s her again.”)
Racy T: Interesting info about the effects of your color change. My hair is naturally red, and yes, people tend to assume I will be bitchy/ill-tempered. They also assume I am of Irish extraction, but then, I am. There is also the alarming array of sexual stereotypes, which people (esp. drunk ones) feel remarkably free to “discuss” with me…
…I generally get called “bitch” while my little sister gets called “slut”. I had assumed people were stereotyping her extra-large bosom, but perhaps it is also hair profiling…
SKM — people will find any reason they can to stereotype you if that’s what they want to do… but yeah, I’m amazed at just how prevelant these stupid assumptions are. Another interesting aspect is how strange women were often very rude to me in public when I was blonde, and that seemed to disappear with the colour change as well.
That said, I don’t mind if people assume I’m Irish, and since I’m fair and freckly and green-eyed, it’s not that big a stretch. But I, too, love it (read: DO NOT LOVE IT) when people want to discuss ridiculous stereotypes with me in their cluelessness. The one upside is asshole bar guys used to think I’d screw them no matter what, and now they assume I will shoot them down. Which I will.
asdf — rock on!
Ah, then that’s OK. Because everyone knows busty women are definitely stupid and up for it (read: up for street harassment) all the time!
I don’t know why one would presumably be any different to the other. If I was both, I don’t think it wolud be any consolation that it wasn’t my hair people thought made me dumb, but my breasts.
Ergh. Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if men did act differently (read use simple words or whatever) around blondes, but that’s a worrying sign of how powerful stereotypes are. To the credit of whatever newspaper I read this in, it did present it from a ‘worrying that stereotypes are so influential’ viewpoint because of whoever they quoted, rather than a ‘blondes make us dumb!!’ viewpoint that I’m sure some paper somewhere must have used.
Blonde jokes are stupid and sexist. All the same, one has to admire the best blonde joke ever told.
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