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AIBU?

To find it offensive when people use "blonde" as a derogatory term?

71 replies

PeachesMcLean · 22/02/2007 22:16

I've just watched the opening of some second rate sit com in which the female voiceover referred to a girl as useless and "well, a bit blonde".

My natural hair colour is not a reflection of my intelligence. I find it offensive to suggest that my colour would have any impact on my personality.

Can I rely on you all to avoid perpetuating this type of comment? I don't think I'm being over sensitive. Having said that, TV programme looks crap so maybe it's just that they're stupid.

OP posts:

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hunkerdave · 22/02/2007 23:07

I actually think this thread is brunettist [hard stare]

flutterdave · 22/02/2007 23:07

Typical of a blonde to start this kind of thread

pointydog · 22/02/2007 23:08

(that post of mine re miss sunshine was in response to saadia )

mateychops · 22/02/2007 23:10

Pointy, you make me chuckle. In a non-colourist way, obviously.

QueenEagle · 22/02/2007 23:15

btw it's dual heritage these days.

I guess the blonde referecne will eventually be deemed too offensive to use too

PeachesMcLean · 22/02/2007 23:22

Thanks QueenEagle. Might take a while here on MN though.

OP posts:

quanglewangle · 22/02/2007 23:33

As a geeky blonde, it bugs me too.

Worse than 'dumb blonde' because it implies all blondes are dumb by definition. At least the term 'dumb blonde' allowed for some clever blondes.

Though I have to say that anyone that chooses blonde hair out of a bottle must be a bit stoopid. It makes anyone look ill and washed out.

pointydog · 23/02/2007 08:13

quangle, I want to be thought of as a frivolous airhead. Better than a brooding cynical nerd.

flutterdave · 23/02/2007 08:16

Peaches can you just answer my post from last night which asked if you got really angry at the term "blondes have more fun" because as I said before this too is just a lazy stereotype and offensive to people of different hair colour.

Or do you embrace the good comments and get angry at the bad as so many of us do without thinking of the other side.

saadia · 23/02/2007 08:34

ahh but pointydog it was Little Miss Dotty who was blonde in the book.

furcoatandnoknickers · 23/02/2007 08:41

MATEYCHOPS - This might be a tad sad, but Im still chuckling at why you're called mateychops!! Does he call you that all the time? Will your children know you as that?!!

I to am blonde. Now I am enhanced blonde. I can sometimes feel new people speaking to my blond-ness, its a sort of "ickle-dumbing-down".

This makes me become all superior and brandish long words about, which in turn, makes me sound - well.....

BLONDE

its a bit of a loose loose situation. Thankfully not everyone does it!!

pointydog · 23/02/2007 08:42

ah, I should read properly.

But Little Miss Sunshine is blond too, isn't she? Blond for happy, blond for dotty.

Brunette for brooding, brunette for over-serious.

Take your pick. Wanker par excellence, Heathcliff, was not blond.

Humans just seem to naturally attach all sorts of (var ropey) symbolism to colours in all sorts of cultures.

FrannyandZooey · 23/02/2007 08:42

I'm with hunker, I can't find it in me to care. I hardly think we blondes qualify as an oppressed minority.

furcoatandnoknickers · 23/02/2007 08:45

Im just so glad i'm not a RED head!

PeachesMcLean · 23/02/2007 08:49

Hi flutterdave, I can answer that but it all started to get a little, well, not exactly heated last night, but I started to feel my concerns were being laughed at in certain quarters. I certainly didn't want to get embroiled in any discussion of whether prejudice against blondes was comparable wih prejudice against black people (I think I had already acknowledged that wasn't appropriate but was raised as an example of how it's wrong to judge on appearance). I'm also don't want to discuss how I feel with people who call names.

I would never say Blondes have more fun though at least it's not as rude as suggesting all blondes are thick. Why should someone have more fun just because they're blonde? Though at least that cliche doesn't suggest I'm thick. Thinking about it, was this coined in the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes film? So they'd have more fun because men preferred them? Well that's just daft isn't it. Women have the most fun when a man likes them? Hmm...

Now I've probably just killed my own thread for being so serious and boring. Oh well, maybe it was a kindness in the end....

OP posts:

littlelapin · 23/02/2007 08:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

furcoatandnoknickers · 23/02/2007 09:12

little lapin - tis only jealousy! Aparently I cant go strawberry because of .. wait for it ... my red face. That is what my colourist said. Of course I smacked him and started to cry................

colditz · 23/02/2007 09:17

I think the idea that blonds have more fun may come from the fact that men find blond women more attractive, as a generalisation.

Likewise, brunettes have a reputaion for being sensible (read dour!) which may come from the fact that men over look them.

I think a lot of these steriotypes are laid down at around the age of 17, when the boys are prickish enough to act of them and the girls are insecure enough to care.

gingermonkey · 23/02/2007 09:18

try being a brunette with glasses, we're all dull as dishwater

colditz · 23/02/2007 09:20

am one. I might as well have been born 50.

blondehelen · 23/02/2007 09:23

I sometimes refer to myself as having ' a blonde moment'. I don't mind if my family/friends use my hair colour when describing me if I have done something a little ditzy. I do object to anyone using 'blonde' as an adjective for ditzy or thick in general conversation. Probably completely irrational logic but then I am blonde BTW I am very intelligent

edam · 23/02/2007 09:38

I'm sure I read somewhere once that blondes are associated with being ditzy because blonde hair is seen as child-like (although why, when plenty of babies have dark hair, I can't recall).

I don't like blonde jokes or references because they are bleeding sexist. And I don't like the way sexism has crept back into society and isn't acknowledged as a problem any more. The 'get a sense of humour, luv' brigade have won. (I'm not blonde, btw.)

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mosschops30 · 23/02/2007 09:39

I dont mind using it myself, and is a constant excuse for my dizzyness.

However when someone who is not blonde is using it as a derogatory term then yes I'm offended

Ulysees · 23/02/2007 09:41

Only if it's a female saying it.

I use man as a derogatory term all the time

Ulysees · 23/02/2007 09:43

Bu the way I'm a dyed blonde and wish I suited being brunette.

I don't think men find blondes more attractive. Think of the most beautiful women around in the media, how many are blonde? Angelina Jolie, Penelope cruz etc....

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