Blondes Arent As Dumb As They Look 

I have a couple jokes for you. Why can’t a blonde dial 911? She can’t find the eleven. Why did the blonde put water on her computer? To wash the windows. I got a compliment on my driving today said a blonde to her friend. There was a note left on my windshield that said, “parking fine.” Now these jokes may be funny to you and yes maybe a little funny to me, but they are also really insulting for girls who have blonde hair. The stereotypical saying of “dumb blondes” is hurtful for people who may be very intelligent.

In fact, in my audience analysis survey that was conducted right here in LB127, a question asked, “What color hair do you think comes with the most intelligence,” 100 percent of you answered that brunettes or black-haired people come with the most intellect. Blondes are underrated and practically misinterpreted in society. Today I am here to prove to you that blondes aren’t as dumb as they are stereotyped to be by talking about where the stereotype originated from and why blondes are viewed as lower in society and let you in on some research that proves that blondes are not stupid.

Transition: Let’s begin by finding out where this ridiculous idea came from

Body:

1. Where did the stereotype originate?

a. According to Cristen Conger, a writer for “Stuff Mom Never Told You,” wrote an article saying that a French courtesan Rosalie Duthe is credited with starting the dumb blonde stereotype way back in the late 18-century in Paris, France. A trained ballet dancer and favorite escort of French royals and fashionable circles, fair-haired Duthe was not unlike a blonde Kim Kardashian of her day, famous for being beautiful, famous and slow-witted. In 1775, a one-act play was written involving Duthe that emphasized her trademark long, vacant pauses during conversations, and the dumb blonde joke went public.

b. A 100 years later, the British had adopted the slang “dizzy blonde” to describe risqué stage performers. In the 1920s in the United States, a dimwitted young woman was referred to as a “dumb Dora,” who would soon evolve into the anonymous dumb blonde thanks to Anita Loos. In 1925, the writer and screenwriter published the best-selling novel “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” about a brainless blonde Lorelei Lee, who Marilyn Monroe would later play in the film version. Two years after that book was published, Loos published a sequel and called it: “But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.”

Transition: Now that you know just a little bit of the history of the stereotype, lets meet a couple famous and important blondes in our society.

2. There are many blondes who have struck it big time or have a very important world in our life today.

a. I don’t think we have any arguments against people making millions on top of millions of dollars in their careers, in fact we have no room to talk here we are right now becoming farther and farther in debt when some of these people can just pay off college in about 2 days.

i. Emma Stone is a natural blonde who stars in many popular shows and movies including The Amazing Spiderman, Easy A, The Help, Malcolm in the Middle, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and The Croods. According to CNBC, Stone makes over $26 million a year just on her acting, that doesn’t include extra money she makes elsewhere.

ii. Katy Perry is also a natural blonde who makes the big bucks making number one hits on the radio and sells out venues all over the world. Que the fireworks (haha catch that?). According Paywizard Katy Perry has an annual salary of $83 million a year.

iii. What about the brave woman who volunteered as tribute for her little sister? That’s right Jennifer Lawrence is a natural blonde who has starred in Hunger Games Series and countless other popular movies. Forbes magazine says that Lawrence made $46 million in 2016 and is projected to be way over $75 million in the next five years.

b. Aside from making the money, there are many people who are proven to be intelligent because they are representing us people in the United States Government.

i. Huffington Post’s Emily Peck wrote an article about how there are many blondes that are leading this country today. She says that 48% of female chief executives at 500 different companies and 35% of female senators are blonde, which was found by the Academy of Management. The first woman to get a major party nomination for president was blonde. The first woman to sit on the supreme court was blonde. The first woman president of Harvard was blonde.

Transition: Since you know that there are multiple wealthy blondes in the world today, let’s look into some statistical information regarding blonde’s intelligence and just how those blondes might be making so much money today.

3. Blondes are shown to have more intelligence than any other hair color.

a. Ohio State University did a study on 10,878 Americans and found that women who had natural blonde hair color had an average IQ score higher than the brunettes and those with red or black hair. Jay Zagorsky, a scientist at Ohio State says that “while blonde jokes may be harmless to some, it can have real-world implications. He also adds that this study provides compelling evidence that there shouldn’t be any discrimination against blondes based on their intelligence. This doesn’t necessarily mean that blondes are smarter than others, rather that they aren’t dumber than others.

b. Suzannah Weiss from Glamour magazine writes about a study that was published in Economics Bulletin, comparing people with different hair colors’ results from a 1980-Armed Forces Qualification Test, which measures reading comprehension and mathematical reasoning. The average IQs were 103.2 for blondes, 102.7 for brunettes, 101.2 for redheads, and 100.5 for women with black hair. Weiss states that “these differences are small and aren’t super significant, but the fact that blonde women came out on top does shoot to hell that they’re at the bottom rung of the intelligence ladder.

Transition: You may think these statistics are just numbers that someone made up, but what if I know someone who also is intelligent when it comes to school? Me, myself, and I. Not to be selfish but I really am not the huge idiot I make myself out to be.

4. I am not an unintelligent blonde.

a. Although I may have a few blonde jokes that match my personality very well I am far from dumb. According my East Noble High School transcript I graduated from high school with a 3.8 GPA and was ranked 28th out of 300 kids. My high school wasn’t allowed to give extra credit or anything so the grade you got was the grade you got and there wasn’t any changing it. I earned that 3.8 GPA and it didn’t come from being an idiot. I do say that on occasion I lack a little bit of common sense, but my studies show that I am not that dumb. In fact, 6/10 of the top 10 people in my class were blondes. What can you say about that? And my brain hasn’t stopped in high school. Just last week I scored a 41.5/43 on my math exam. Not a quiz not extra credit, an exam. That is a 96%. My current college GPA is a 3.5 which is basically awesome based on how I predicted I would do in college.

Transition: Let’s look back at some of the things I talked about today.

Conclusion: Yes, those blonde jokes may be funny, and yes maybe you don’t care what the IQ scores say and yes you might not even care about any famous blondes whatsoever. That’s okay. I just want you to be understanding when I say that not all blondes are stereotypically “dumb.” Everyone has those “duh” moments, and everyone has a couple tests here and there that they don’t do so well on. That has nothing to do with your hair color. Society today has continued to stereotype many groups of people and blondes becoming a group of their own when rather they are just like each one of you. I know some ditzy brunettes, and I’m sure you do too. Next time someone talks about how dumb that blonde girl is, maybe you can stick up for her and back her up, because now you know some truth behind the whole stereotype. Thank you.