Blonde joke

Blonde joke
Alternative nameDumb blonde joke
Target of jokeBlonde women
LanguageEnglish

Blonde jokes are a joke cycle based on a stereotype of a dumb blonde woman.[1]

These jokes about people, generally women, who have blonde hair serve as a form of blonde versus brunette rivalry. They are often considered to be derogatory as many are mere variants on traditional ethnic jokes or jests about other identifiable groups that would be considered more offensive (such as Italian jokes involving Carabinieri).

In some cases, jokes about stereotypically stupid people have circulated since the seventeenth century with only the wording and targeted groups changed.[2]

Some blonde jokes rely on sexual humour to portray or stereotype their subjects as promiscuous.[3] Many of these are rephrased sorority girl or Essex girl jokes.[2]

  1. ^ Thomas, Jeannie B. (1997). "Dumb Blondes, Dan Quayle, and Hillary Clinton: Gender, Sexuality, and Stupidity in Jokes". The Journal of American Folklore. 110 (437): 277–313. doi:10.2307/541162. JSTOR 541162.
  2. ^ a b Giselinde Kuipers, Good Humor, Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke, page 24, Walter de Gruyter, 2006, ISBN 9783110186154
  3. ^ Karen Ross, The Handbook of Gender, Sex and Media, chapter 6, John Wiley & Sons, 2011, ISBN 9781118114223