"Blondes make on average 7 percent more than non-blondes, about equal to
the income boost attained by an extra year of education. And blondes
marry people who make approximately 6 percent more than the spouses of
women with other hair colors."
Thank you, David W. Johnston, PhD.
Hmmm. This cuts a couple of different ways. Blond jokes reinforce the awful blond stereotype. I try to resist
stereotypes of all types! Who the heck wants to embrace a stereotype?!
Speaking as a smart, passionate blond, I'm having more fun just by doing what I love. It would be the same were my hair color different.
Stephen, my assistant, enthusiastically went off and did some research at my suggestion. He comes back and reports "Finnish girls are the best overall students in the world." (Presumably, most are blonds.) Then he tells me that there is psychological research which asserts:
men will dumb themselves down more around blonds.
He was enthusiastic about discovering great quotes from one particular blond, Dolly Parton. Dolly, of course, is someone who sings like an angel and toys with the blond stereotype like a cat toys with a mouse. Somehow Dolly has managed to be both larger than life, and, at the same time, down home.
Since my irregular broadcasts via email are intended to delight and enlighten, why not sit for a moment at the feet of a wise Tennessee blond?
First a couple of lines Dolly uttered in flicks:
"Get down off the cross, honey. Somebody needs the wood." (from
Straight Talk)
I can relate to this one, from
Steel Magnolias,
"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion."Her original sayings are pure gold:
"Storms make trees take deeper roots." Then there's this, an idea very much a twin to one I try to live by,
"Find out who you are, and then do it on purpose."Love it. Finally, I'd like to have Dolly put the whole blond thing in perspective with her sense of it all:
"I'm not offended by all the dumb blond jokes--because I know I'm not dumb. I know--also--that I'm not a blond."<;-)
