Being a blonde haired, white female makes it difficult to win favor in terms of education. There is a stereotype around blondes, where females with blonde hair are thought of as stupid, unintelligent, an air head, or simply dumb. These loving, caring words of endearment etch their way into a multitude of men and women’s mental scaffolding, making it extremely challenging to amend. In today’s society, men and women do not even attempt to change their ways of putting females down, they merely add to the fire by coining “blondes have more fun.” A plethora of individuals do this in part of the belief that blondes are unable to generate positive and factually correct information. In fact, the oppression of blondes being smart is actually promoted in society through blonde jokes. As a blonde headed female, I cannot remember how many times I have had eyes rolled at me for leading an activity or discussion because I am blonde. I cannot remember how many times my opinion has been disregarded or ignored because I have blonde hair. But most importantly, I can no longer remember how many times the blonde joke of “What do you call a really smart blonde? A golden retriever” has been directed at me, because it exceeds the number of fingers I have.

The stereotyping of all blondes being floozy and having a bag of rocks for a brain desperately needs to be altered. Back in 2017 when I was touring nursing colleges, Ohio State University was a strong contender, until viewing the college in person. On this tour, I was able to have a one-on-one information session with the nursing dean, because I was the only out-of-state student visiting that day. It was clear from the get-go that the dean did not present the college to the best of her abilities, as she informed me that only competitive students with a 3.5 GPA or higher and 1200 SAT coming from high school actually had a chance. Little did she know, I had a 4.0 GPA and 1380 SAT score. The dean judged my internal character based on my external appearances. So, instead of generously and nicely promoting the Ohio State University nursing college as planned, the dean educated me on the other options for students who don’t make it into their prestigious nursing college. The dean spoke for twenty minutes about the surrounding community colleges that offer nursing and the online programs that I could join. At the twenty-minute mark, my parents were fuming due to this full-grown woman for assuming that I was unintelligent, but I had enough of it. When she began her twenty-first minute of alternative options for my future when I didn’t make it into their nursing program, I stood up and told her, “Thank you for your time, but I will not be attending college at this university. I am a very intelligent young woman, with a 4.0 GPA and a 1380 SAT score, and I do not appreciate my outward appearance predestinating where I end up for nursing college.” Much to the dean’s dismay, I was actually smart, and she apologized for judging me based on my hair color and skin tone. She invited me to sit back down and discuss the real nursing program at Ohio State University, but to me, it was a lost cause. Nobody enjoys watching an individual fix a bridge they already burnt down. As a result of this conversation, it may be taken away that while all of society cannot be fixed to treat everyone equally, those of us that are judged and oppressed can change one person’s mind by proving them wrong, standing up for ourselves, and not being indifferent to the injustices served by the color of one’s hair.

As a blonde female, it is common to feel as if men and women expect us to be dumb and have no sense or clue of the world around us, like blondes are bubble heads who don’t know how to escape the clouds and come back down to Earth. Contrary to popular belief, a multitude of blondes are up-to-date and fabulous at sports! Yes, blondes are athletic and knowledgeable in the big wide world of sports and athletic! It is unreasonable for men to quiz blonde females on the Patriots coach’s son’s name, because only the sport junkies who don’t get out of the house more than once a week know that. One of my favorite sports to play and watch is boxing. On multiple occasions in the gym, I have gotten looks for lifting weights or boxing. It’s like a rare and dying species that nobody has ever seen before: a white, blonde female hitting mitts and bags harder and faster than most men. It’s like there’s a mystical entity occurring when a blonde female walks into a boxing gym in the hood and does better than the ignorant boxing veterans. The veterans want to poke and observe the newbie and their habits, to understand them, as if they’ve never seen anything like it before. The first time I went to the boxing gym in Georgia, I was the only white and blonde female in the ring. Therefore, my nickname from the start of my membership was “blondie” or “ponytail”. At the beginning, all the attention from onlookers was directed at me, the new, inexperienced female boxer, whereas my male cohorts were overlooked. After a while, the crowd trains themselves not to stare, but as the blonde in the gym, I could feel their piercing eyes watching my every move, waiting for me to mess up, so they could confirm their theories that I was just a dumb blonde. I had to earn my stripes, not only through becoming the best female boxer in the gym, but through my focus, concentration, and knowledge about the sport, among others.

For all the blonde females who deal with stereotypes and incorrect predispositions, it is owed to us to have faith and confidence in ourselves. The blondes that put themselves down to the levels that judgmental people place above our heads only progresses the incorrect mental scaffolding that is engrained in society. The reality is, a majority of blondes are extremely intelligent, bright females. Yes, there is a group of females who have provided the wrong atmosphere to encourage the stereotyping, but if you look at the facts, blondes have got it going on. Look at Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, or Ginni Rometty, the CEO, chairman, and president at IMB; these women are a just a couple out of millions of blondes who are changing the world. Intelligence goes far beyond the spectrum of the classroom or ability to lead a group effectively, it also falls into categories of athletic abilities, and street smarts. Thus concluding, it is improper to judge anyone based off of hair color, especially when they defy the odds.