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Blonde jokes are a
joke cycle A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogu ...
based on a stereotype of a dumb blonde woman. These
joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
s about people, generally women, who have blonde
hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...
serve as a form of
blonde versus brunette rivalry The blonde versus brunette rivalry is a rivalry—whether real, imagined, or fictional—between women with blonde hair and those with brown hair. (The color of brown hair is often called ''brunette''). In popular culture and everyday conversation ...
. They are often considered to be derogatory as many are mere variants on traditional
ethnic joke An ethnic joke is a remark aiming at humor relating to an ethnic, racial or cultural group, often referring to an ethnic stereotype of the group in question for its punchline. Perceptions of ethnic jokes are ambivalent. Christie Davies gives ...
s or jests about other identifiable groups that would be considered more offensive (such as Italian jokes involving
Carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
). In some cases, jokes about stereotypically stupid people have circulated since the seventeenth century with only the wording and targeted groups changed.Giselinde Kuipers,
Good Humor, Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke
', page 24, Walter de Gruyter, 2006,
Some blonde jokes rely on
sexual humour Ribaldry or blue comedy is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to indecency. Blue comedy is also referred to as "bawdiness" or being "bawdy". Sex is presented in ribald material more for the purpose of poking fun at ...
to portray or stereotype their subjects as promiscuous. Many of these are rephrased
sorority Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...
girl or
Essex girl Essex girl, as a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom, applies to a woman viewed as promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from the county of Essex. It is applied widely throughout the country and has g ...
jokes.


Common traits

Blonde jokes nearly always take the format of the blonde placing herself in a situation or making a comment that serves to highlight her supposed
promiscuity Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by ma ...
and/or lack of
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...
, cluelessness and
clumsiness Clumsy or clumsiness may refer to: Behaviour *Accident-proneness *Developmental coordination disorder, a motor skills disorder which brings about chronic clumsiness Music * ''Clumsy'' (Our Lady Peace album), a 1997 album by Our Lady Peace ** "Cl ...
. The blonde of the joke is often placed in an unusual situation with a
brunette Brown hair, also referred to as brunet (male) or brunette (female), is the second most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to a medium dark hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eu ...
or redhead. The emergence of a class of meta-jokes about blondes ("meta-blonde jokes", i.e., jokes about blonde jokes) is noted. In a typical plot of this type a blonde complains about the unfairness of the stereotype propagated by blonde jokes, with a punch line actually reinforcing the stereotype. An example is about a blonde objecting to a
ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...
act packed with sexist jokes about blondes: The British
Essex girl Essex girl, as a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom, applies to a woman viewed as promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from the county of Essex. It is applied widely throughout the country and has g ...
joke, very similar in content, became popular in the late 1980s; it satirises working-class girls from the county of
Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
.


Criticism

Like all humour based on
stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...
s, blonde jokes are considered offensive to many people, particularly blonde women. Blonde jokes have been criticized as
sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
by several authors, largely because the target is invariably dimwitted, female and sexually promiscuous.


See also

*
Blonde stereotype Blonde stereotypes are stereotypes of blonde- haired people. Sub-types of this stereotype include the " blonde bombshell" and the "dumb blonde". Blondes are stereotyped as more desirable, but less intelligent than brunettes. There are many bl ...
* Dumb blonde *
Gender inequality Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...
and
gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primar ...
* Redneck joke


References


Further reading

* * {{citation, title=The Ultimate Book of Blonde, Brunette, and Redhead Jokes , author=James Buffington , publisher=Ulysses Press , year=2010 , isbn=9781569757932 Joke cycles Gender jokes Stereotypes of women Blond hair