# Why are blondes associated with being unintelligent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741 "2003-07-20T14:57:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yosephat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee59a6/32.png) [@Yosephat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosephat)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/1 "2003-07-20T14:57:17Z")
Does anyone know why blondes are jokingly referred to as naturally dumb? And if so, how long has the concept been around? ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/2 "2003-07-20T15:05:28Z")
Hi and welcome to the board. I do not have a cite, sorry, but I have always took it as the “blondes have more fun” and are to busy with flirting/dateing to be concerned with education. They are naturally pretty and do not need to be smart; they can use their looks to hookup with smart/rich guy. ---
**Author:** ![Susma\_Rio\_Sep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Susma\_Rio\_Sep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susma_Rio_Sep)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/3 "2003-07-20T23:49:41Z")
Because they are too smart to pretend to be smart, being that their usual beauty going together with their blondness is enough to get along in life, and well. Are blonds usually better looking than non-blonds, everything else being equal? That’s the picture. I seem to see more good-looking blonds than non-blonds. But then I must confess I have not really seen as much women or blonds as others might have. I am a one-woman man. Susma Rio Sep ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/4 "2003-07-21T00:21:24Z")
I’m gonna risk a guess, totally unsupported by anything. It goes back to Hollywood, and the movies from the 1930’s or before. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/5 "2003-07-21T03:11:17Z")
Now is this Blondes of both sexes or just Blonde women? ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/6 "2003-07-21T03:26:12Z")
The salacious reputation of blonde women stems from a law passed in ancient Roman times mandating that all prostitutes dye their hair blonde. To this day the mindset of “blondes have more fun” has persisted. As a blond man, I can verify the real life basis for this legend. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/7 "2003-07-21T03:33:21Z")
Blonde women aren’t statistically prettier than other women. They merely get noticed more because the vast majority of people are _not_ blonde and therefore the blonde “sticks out” in a crowd. Besides, the prettiest women are redheads. ---
**Author:** ![terd\_ferguson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@terd\_ferguson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terd_ferguson)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/8 "2003-07-21T04:28:57Z")
and i quote…ahem…“Math is hard.” ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/9 "2003-07-21T04:57:05Z")
Two words: **Marilyn Monroe** ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/10 "2003-07-21T05:12:54Z")
I’m really too tired to search this anymore than what I did just now. From The _Soda Springs Sun_, Soda Spring, Idaho, May2, 1940: > [@](#): > > The dumb blonde on a country ramble had been paying more attention to her shy boy companion than to the fresh spring scenery. So Marilyn Monroe is out of the running. If I feel energetic tomorrow, I’ll try to go back further. ---
**Author:** ![Yosephat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee59a6/32.png) [@Yosephat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosephat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/11 "2003-07-21T05:16:37Z")
Got any proof behind that Roman thing Zenster? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/12 "2003-07-21T05:19:02Z")
The classic dumb blonde was Lorelei Lee in Anita Loos’s 1925 comic novel _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_. Who is most likely to have naturally blond hair? A young person. Blond hair darkens or grays in adulthood. Hence, a blondness in a woman is associated with girlishness. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/13 "2003-07-21T05:19:22Z")
From _The Decatur Daily Review_, Decatur, IL. JUne 23, 1930 “…and a comedy, **Deaf, Dumb, and Blonde**.” I wonder when they started to be able to hear? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/14 "2003-07-21T05:21:12Z")
Damn you, **Walloon**. I may have to stay up very late tonight. I didn’t need this. ---
**Author:** ![gyt\_fx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@gyt\_fx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gyt_fx)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/15 "2003-07-21T05:25:07Z")
umm, hello, prettiest women are brunettes!! (take a look at Brooke Burke :)) When i was watching the howard stern show, they had a game show that 3 playboy playmates participated in to get plugs for an upcoming event. There was one naturally born unmistakingly blonde, a brunette, and a brunettish-blond. The brunette, nonsurprisingly, got 2 points. The brunettish blonde: -1. The blonde: -4. These arent the exact numbers, but they are close and relatively to the point: the blonde answered barely any questions right in comparison to the other. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/16 "2003-07-21T05:33:34Z")
“Prostitution”, _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (1911 ed.) > [@](#): > > Prostitution was more severely regulated by [the Romans] than by any other ancient race. They introduced the system of police registration, which is the leading feature of administration in most European countries to-day. From the earliest days of the Republic prostitutes were required to register at the aediles’ office, where licences were issued to them on payment of a tax. They were placed under stringent control, had to wear a distinctive dress, dye their hair or wear yellow wigs, and were subject to various civil disabilities. . . ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/17 "2003-07-21T05:37:05Z")
I’ve noticed that the women who best meet the stereotype of the “dumb blonde” are peroxide blondes. There’s something about women who will base their entire identity on “bleaching my hair so that I can get a man” that screams “idiot!” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/18 "2003-07-21T06:21:42Z")
Blondes were “dizzy” before they were “dumb.” I can find an 1878 cite for “dizzy blond.” ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/19 "2003-07-21T08:26:57Z")
. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741/20 "2003-07-21T13:33:03Z")
Theory: Blondes are considered more attractive in our society, and thus can advance further with the same amount of brainpower, knowledge and competence than others can. Thus, one is more likely to encounter an incompetent blond person in a given position than an incompetent person with another hair color. Hence the stereotype. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blondes-associated-with-being-unintelligent/189741.md?page=2)