I actually wrote quite a long note some time ago about things Europeans asked or said to me that I didn’t know how to respond to without disagreeing. I never posted it. However, one of those things that pops up often enough, as said to me by Europeans and non-Europeans here alike, is the typical description of beautiful people. People would talk about these awesome people who are “blond, tall, with blue eyes that everyone would fall for (as opposed to other ‘plain’, non-blond folk)”. My usual reaction is to smile, say nothing, or say “Yeah…I’m sure”; but running through my mind would be “Umm, no eh… I have nothing against blond people with blue eyes, but I honestly can’t identify with your objectification of them as some special group of hotness. They look just as pretty/plain as everyone else does”
It’s different because, having gone to an all-girls secondary school, I’ve heard many girls talk about beautiful girls and guys. Whilst the hot, blond, white dude from a movie may factor into a conversation, the description of a beautiful girl never involved blondness or blue eyes…it instead might have involved fair skin and long hair. This wasn’t because blondness isn’t ‘beautiful’, it’s just because people in Trinidad generally don’t go through life swooning over and thinking about blond folk. I think that of all the Trini black/brown people I’ve met who have a ‘thing’ for white people, they just have a ‘thing’ for white people…they couldn’t care less what colour their hair was. So it’s really strange to hear people in England make this special distinction between ‘blonds’ and ‘everyone else’. I’ve seen many a good looking blond person here, but try as I might, I can’t begin to grasp why they’re any ‘hotter’ than brown-headed, black-headed or red-headed white folk. Maybe if I had lived here longer I would be seeing things differently.
Either way, I generally never fit into any description of ‘beauty’ that people tell me; so for very selfish reasons it often goes in one ear and out the other. I still find the subject fascinating though… I wonder if people in the US also hold blond people up on some higher level.
Happenings 
Stereotypes are still out there….but, no, we are not all fixed on blondes or on surface things…just most! But here in the U.S.A., attitudes ARE CHANGING—mixed-color couples are less frowned upon in most areas of the country.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
AM I CAUGHT IN THIS STEREOTYPING???? i HOPE, TRUST, NOT!
I’ve never found lightness more attractive than darkness. I actually like darker skin and before my hair went white, I really liked being a brown-eyed brown-haired person, even though I always called my skin “fishbelly white.” Finding lighter skin, hair and eyes more attractive is a traditional northern European point of view — NOT shared by most people on earth, however. And becoming increasingly rare, I might add.
Speaking as a redhead, blondes are usually ranked higher, but I have my own charm and I’ve never worried about it.
Well it was all very new to me. I didn’t know that ‘blond’ was such a prevalent preference in some cultures, but I’m glad to know that it’s becoming more diverse.