French academics to settle an age-old question: Do men really prefer blondes?

French academics to settle an age-old question: Do men really prefer blondes?

By Ian Sparks
Last updated at 6:17 PM on 13th January 2009


Marilyn Monroe: The famous blonde had no problem attracting male attention

A high-brow academic debate on whether men really do prefer blondes is to be held at Paris's prestigious Sorbonne University.

The conference - called Gentlemen prefer Blondes - will also explore why men are said to believe that it is easier to seduce a fair-haired woman.

Organiser Marie-Camille Bouchindomme said that throughout history, blondes had been depicted as either the most beautiful, the most erotic and even the most stupid women.

She said: 'Blonde hair on a woman seems to awaken some kind of desire in men, which can be anything from quite innocent to outright perversion.

'Venus, the goddess of love, and there has always been a strong link between blonde hair and male desire.

'In so ways, blondeness seems to invite transgression and eroticism in men that darker hair does not.'

She added: 'Artists have also always been fascinated by blondes, especially film-makers Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch.

'In Vladimir Nabokov's book Lolita, the girl was actually a brunette, but in all four films of the book she was depicted as blonde.'

Miss Bouchindomme, a brunette, said she had her own theories on whether men actually preferred blonde women, but would not be revealing until the official debate began.


French actress Catherine Deneuve in 1980 flick Belle de Jour

She said: 'I am happy to dispel the myth that blonde women are less intelligent.

'This seems to have arisen because if a woman is seen as more sexual, she may be correspondingly less brainy.

'There is a lot of historical evidence that men like blondes better for a host of reasons.


Brigitte Bardot, another famous blonde, in 1963 film 'Le Mepris'

'It is to be discussed whether this is because the colour blonde taps into a part of their psyche that other hair colours do not, or whether it is less instinctive and these days may not necessarily still be true.'

The Gentlemen Prefer Blondes conference - named after the film starring blonde screen legend Marilyn Monroe - takes place at the Sorbonne on Saturday.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1114570/French-academics-settle-age-old-question-Do-men-really-prefer-blondes.html