Do Blondes Really Have More Fun?

July 1, 2003 -- -- — Some women are bent on being blond … or will dye trying. But is it really worth it? Do they really have more fun? Sadly, I must report, in some ways, they do. Maybe the world just isn't fair.

The Wolf Files confirms that blondes on dating service Match.com get significantly more attention from gentleman e-mailers. Golden-haired gals averaged 14 flirtatious messages in May, while redheads averaged 11 and brunettes got a measly nine.

No doubt that's why a user survey of both sexes late last year confirmed that 55 percent agree with the old adage that blondes have more fun.

But don't break out the peroxide just yet. Several studies suggest that men ultimately seek darker-haired women as wives. Fun is fun, apparently, but marriage is a whole different story.

This phenomenon has nothing to do with intelligence. Match.com reports that light-haired ladies are more likely to have college and graduate degrees than other female members. They're also more likely to be employed in the legal profession or other brainy fields. So much for dumb blondes.

How Blond Is Too Blond?

At the root of the issue is Reese Witherspoon, who is back this week as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde.

In the first Legally Blonde, Elle packs up her pedigreed Chihuaha and heads to Harvard Law School to win back her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, a wannabe politician in search of a trophy wife — a brunet trophy wife, to be exact.

"If I want to be elected senator by the time I'm 30, I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn," he tells her.

"You're breaking up with me because I'm too — blond!" Elle cries. In the end she finds a legal career way more exciting than a new hairdo, or winning back her man.

In the sequel, two years later, Elle is as prissy as ever. This time, she takes on Washington, where she's out to stop product testing on animals in the cosmetics industry.

"The cost of beauty is much too high," she says. "I can't believe I just said that." Should Hillary Become a ‘Bottle Brunette’?

Witherspoon's onscreen success aside, could hair color be a political impediment?