A friend of mine, from time to time, mentions on Facebook something slightly off-kilter or wacky his wife has done, genially attributing it to the fact that she is a blonde.

Which has made me wonder: Why do we pick on the fair-haired minority? (Blond hair occurring naturally among only 16 percent of U.S. women, so I read.)

Unflattering stereotypes (and I consider dumb blond a mild one, in the great scheme of things) tend to develop when there is contention between groups.

One far-fetched-sounding tale I found did involve Greeks bleaching their hair to look more like northern neighbors, with brain-harming results. But research generally didn't tend to support the eons-ago theory of blond-bashing. Instead, explanations lean toward a much more contemporary source: the creation of dumb blonde movie roles for comic effect early in the 20th century.

True, those roles basically went -- and still go -- exclusively to women, which is a bit of a sore spot. (Blonde being the spelling for the female-only version.) But cinematic blond surfer dudes suffer from the stigma, as well. I could cite a certain episode of "Gilligan's Island" as case in point.

(The "Gilligan's" pilot episode, by the way, actually featured a dumb-blonde character called "Bunny." Bunny was axed, for whatever reasons, and revived as "Mary Ann," much to the appreciation of generations of boys, young and old.)

An irony in all this is that, despite being ridiculed, blonde women seem also to be considered by some as more attractive, or glamorous. I call your attention to the sly advertising question of days gone by, "Do blondes have more fun?"

And: "If I've only one life to live, let me live it as a blonde!"

Perhaps, in other words, there is an element of envy involved in the put-downs.

I put the whole issue to a friend of mine whom I consider a quintessential ironic blonde, Tori Petty. I've long suspected that Tori, a former Miss Mississippi contestant, got a kick out of playing her role as a blonde.

"Blonde is an attitude," she told me in an email. "It's flirty. It's Marilyn. It's Clairol's iconic advertising slogan from the 1950's that had men wondering 'Does she ... or doesn't she?' (Color her hair? Or something ... )"

I was puzzled a few years ago when she took her hair in a different direction. I asked about the impact, if any.

"After abdicating from blonde to redhead," she said, "I noticed a distinct attrition of 'second looks' from men and just chalked it up to aging. However, after my recent return to blondedom I have noticed being noticed more, even from this lofty perch (Ole Miss, circa the previous century)."

I suppose that some blonds might well get tired of the dumb references. And I recognize that some people consider any kind of poking fun in this vein as offensive. But my friend's blonde wife has been married to him in the vicinity of 40 years, so she seems not to mind his gibes overly. And she even gets in the act herself, from time to time, blaming hair color for any slip-ups.

As for Tori:

"I could write until my fingers fell off and still not be able to top Dolly Parton, who once wrote 'I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde.' "


Now, a variation of one of my favorite jokes:

Blind guy walks into a bar, sits down and, after a few drinks, loudly asks, "Hey, anybody want to hear a blond joke?"

"Listen, fella," the bartender says. "The woman sitting next to you is a blonde, and a fifth-degree black belt in karate. The fellow on your other side is a blond, and a former champion boxer. And, as it happens, I'm a blond, and a 250-pound ex-Marine. Now, you still want to tell that blond joke?"

"Well, no," the blind guy says. "Not if I'm gonna have to explain it three times."

Have I mentioned that I myself was once a blond? Decades and decades ago, before my hair started taking on the color and texture of steel wool. And, finally, becoming largely invisible.

That, of course, is no joking matter.

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