nostate.com» feminism

Stupid blondes

Mike Gogulski — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:18:37 +0000

I got an email a little while ago from an acquaintance who I’ve never met in person, asking for some help with English terminology. I provided an answer, she accepted it, and wrote back saying something to the effect of: “Oh! Silly me! I’m just a stupid blonde.”

I replied, saying that it is NOT OKAY to refer to herself in that fashion. Her query back was difficult to read: “Why? Should it be someone else who so describes me?”

My reply:

When I see you use language like that, I think: [My interlocutor] has internalized some evil. She tells herself regularly that she is stupid, even though that’s only a set of lies handed to her by other people. She tells herself that she’s a “stupid blonde” because that’s also a set of lies handed to her by other people. And the “stupid blonde” label simply translates into “stupid woman” or, more exactly, “fucking bitch” by means of the cultural attachments it has.

I don’t know you at all, but I know some patterns. Maybe you are just making a light joke here, but I reacted (in your defense) to what I feel is a terrible aspect of our shared world. Maybe you don’t think of yourself, regularly, as “stupid”. Maybe you don’t think of yourself, regularly, as being well characterized by the simple word “blonde”. But when I see a woman apply that description to herself, I would like to interrupt her and ask her why she is doing so.

The language we use is important. It shapes our worlds, and it shapes ourselves. Use better language. Now, damnit.