KEY POINTS:
I can take a joke.
As a blonde, I often have to.
You have to pick your fights in life, and trying to dispel a false sterotype, which is older than I am, is just not worth it.
Anyone who knows me, knows I am not dumb. Or silly. Or forgetful.
But today I have had enough.
It all began when I read Barbara Ellen (a brunette)'s column, in which she expresses her supposed sympathy for blondes.
I say supposed because her column really reads as a thinly veiled attack on the fairer haired of this world.
Apparently, studies have proven that men lower their IQ when talking to blondes.
Apparently, other studies have proven that because most infants are fair haired, people instictively treat blonde adults as "tiny-minded infants".
Keen to explore the topic, my editor asked me to dig out some other blonde statitistics. In doing so, I came across Tatler magazine's list of the top ten most powerful blondes.
Seven of the ten were the wives or daughters of rich men. Elisabeth Murdoch, Cristina Green, Camilla Parker Bowles...
Without the men in their lives, they would have nothing.
What makes this list so infuriating, is the number of powerful, successful blondes - who have achieved their status in their own right - who were omitted from the list.
Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Diane Sawyer...
In New Zealand, there are plenty of smart blondes making their mark on the world; Trelise Cooper, Sharon Hunter, Theresa Gattung and Annette King to name but a few.
The very fact this list exists is insulting. Why do people constantly feel the need to separate blondes from everyone else?
Have you ever even seen a list of the top ten most powerful brunettes? Or red heads?
And yes, I do realise the irony that I am having this whinge in a blog titled Blonde at the Bar. Which was clearly titled to exploit the stereotype that blondes have more fun.
But to be honest, why shouldn't I exploit it?
I can't change society's viewpoint so I may as well milk it for what it's worth.
Besides, as another blonde friend says, sometimes the stereotype works in our favour. People expect less from you, thus making it far easier to impress.
And despite the fact my hair colour does not determine my personality, intelligence or behaviour - I still wouldn't change it for the world.
