BLONDES are smart, actually. [archive]
New research in the US [PDF] suggests that naturally blond women are no dumber than anybody else. . . .
The study used old data from a long-running national survey conducted regularly on 10,878 ordinary Americans who were aged 14-22 in 1979. . . .
Participants were given a kind of intelligence test, and at one point were also asked their natural hair colour. Based on this data, after various statistical adjustments, blond and brown-haired white women, on average, had an IQ a couple of points higher than white women with red or black hair. . . .
General intelligence is a very slippery thing to measure, as it may well be influenced a lot by how you are brought up. For instance, as the study points out, the big survey also shows: “White, blond women grew up in homes with more reading material than those with other hair colour.”
Actually, having books as a kid is irrelevant to IQ.
Maybe there are some problems with the study’s methodology. At the very least, it isn’t supportive of the “dumb blonde” stereotype.
Related: “When a blonde isn’t dumb, she’s lascivious. . . . Blondes have not always had this reputation.” [archive] “The current blonde stereotype began in the U.S. of the early 20th century. It was a product of ethnic contact between the native-born population and darker-haired immigrants (Italians, Jews, Greeks, etc.) who were often shocked by the relative sexual freedom of ‘American’ women. This attitude existed in different communities, but it entered the mainstream culture primarily via Jewish immigrants and specifically through their contributions to art and literature. It is a common theme in Jewish-American novels.”