Stereotypes Of Blondes
People accept single stories of others all the time. They incorrectly assume that because you act or look a certain way, then there is only one thing that you can be. People might not realize that they are hurting their peers by being narrow-minded. Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton from Huffington Post states, “It is also important to note that the legacy of negative stereotypes — be they ‘beautiful and brainless’ or ‘black and criminal’ — cuts across identities, and reduces any person from being a whole human being to simply being a member of a category.” I have been the victim of a stereotype or a ‘single story’. When I was younger, kids at school accepted a single story of me. I changed their minds by doing the exact opposite of that stereotype.
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There are many terms for this stereotype, such as dumb blonde and cookie cutter blonde — implying that normalized blonde looks and standard perceived intelligence are characteristics of all blondes. Jokes about stereotypical dumb people have been going around since the seventeenth century and only the wording and targeted groups have changed. Blondes can also be stereotypically described as clueless or clumsy. Before my hair got darker, people would think that I was dumb because I was blonde. I changed their minds by getting good grades and being put in APEX. I admit that I am clumsy on occasion, but that does not make me less …show more content…
The roots of this stereotype may be traced back to Europe, with a blonde French courtesan and a talented ballet dancer, named Rosalie Duthé, who was criticized in a play from 1775 for her habit of pausing a long time before talking. She appeared not only stupid but mute as well. This is one theory as to where this stereotype comes from. Another is that it originated in the silent movies of the early years of Hollywood, where female actors like Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford watched in mute adoration while male heroes saved the day. The expression ‘dumb blonde’ was first used in the US in the 1920s. Another theory is that it came from the expression 'dumb ox’, which predates 'dumb blonde' and was first used on a luminary reticent theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. This nickname was probably influenced by Aquinas's quietness and as a variation of the Latin Dominus, a prefix given to religious leaders. The spread of 'dumb blonde' imagery was no doubt influenced by the description of Jean Harlow as the Blonde Bombshell in her 1933 film, and Anita Loos' popular novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which had been published the previous year, although the phrase 'dumb blonde' doesn't actually occur in either. Through medieval history, high-born women, princesses and queens were depicted as being blonde-haired. One of the first examples of blonde beauty
There are many terms for this stereotype, such as dumb blonde and cookie cutter blonde — implying that normalized blonde looks and standard perceived intelligence are characteristics of all blondes. Jokes about stereotypical dumb people have been going around since the seventeenth century and only the wording and targeted groups have changed. Blondes can also be stereotypically described as clueless or clumsy. Before my hair got darker, people would think that I was dumb because I was blonde. I changed their minds by getting good grades and being put in APEX. I admit that I am clumsy on occasion, but that does not make me less …show more content…
The roots of this stereotype may be traced back to Europe, with a blonde French courtesan and a talented ballet dancer, named Rosalie Duthé, who was criticized in a play from 1775 for her habit of pausing a long time before talking. She appeared not only stupid but mute as well. This is one theory as to where this stereotype comes from. Another is that it originated in the silent movies of the early years of Hollywood, where female actors like Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford watched in mute adoration while male heroes saved the day. The expression ‘dumb blonde’ was first used in the US in the 1920s. Another theory is that it came from the expression 'dumb ox’, which predates 'dumb blonde' and was first used on a luminary reticent theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. This nickname was probably influenced by Aquinas's quietness and as a variation of the Latin Dominus, a prefix given to religious leaders. The spread of 'dumb blonde' imagery was no doubt influenced by the description of Jean Harlow as the Blonde Bombshell in her 1933 film, and Anita Loos' popular novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which had been published the previous year, although the phrase 'dumb blonde' doesn't actually occur in either. Through medieval history, high-born women, princesses and queens were depicted as being blonde-haired. One of the first examples of blonde beauty