Why does US society value blond hair and blue eyes more than British society does?

[Tooting Carmen]

Yes I know I have discussed this before, but I'd like to bring it up again. Not so much regarding women but especially regarding men, the difference in the general beauty ideals found in both countries is actually quite striking. If you look at US male actors, TV models and presenters and compare them to their British counterparts, the percentage of them with blond hair, blue eyes and Germanic features is noticeably higher. But how and why is this? Wouldn't the high numbers of White Americans with Italian, Greek and/or Jewish ancestry in particular make them, if anything, darker and more Med-influenced as a whole than the British?

But anyway, if you look at the actors generally considered to be the most attractive and successful in Britain, they tend to be largely dark-haired, slim and gentlemanly - what we in anthrofora call "Atlantids" usually. Such examples include Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Rupert Everett, Henry Cavill and Christian Bale. When Daniel Craig was first cast as James Bond, many people attacked him for his blond hair, ice-blue eyes and pseudo-Slavic features being the precise opposite of how Bond is "supposed" to look. What's more, actors like Charlie Hunnam have had more success in the US than the UK, in large part because they conform more to a "Hollywood ideal" of male beauty than a British one.

In contrast to most of the aforementioned British actors, what used to be called the "all-American" male ideal is quite different - in this case, the trend is for blond hair, blue eyes, square jaws and muscular physiques. Such examples include Brad Pitt, Paul Walker, Robert Redford, Sean William Scott, Owen Wilson, Bradley Cooper, Greg Germann, Judge Reinhold and Woody Harrelson.

So what explains this disparity? Were the British settlers who went to the US disproportionately blond and Germanic? Was the impact of immigration from Germany, Netherlands and Scandinavia in the US really that big? Or is it mostly due to there being just a different beauty ideal, routed at least in part in the US being a rather more 'race-conscious' nation than Britain from its inception?

[Smeagol]

Blond hair. Blonde is the feminine spelling.

[Jägerstaffel]

I'm not sure I would say that the cultivated media is truly representative of a nation's point of view. I have no control over who is picked to be in films or on TV. That being said, lots of people are drawn to blonds with blue eyes. Maybe it has something to do with there being a bigger pool to draw from in the US compared to Britain.

[Tooting Carmen]

Blond hair. Blonde is the feminine spelling.

OK I shall correct it. But anyway, do you have an opinion on this debate?

[Smeagol]

OK I shall correct it. But anyway, do you have an opinion on this debate?

Americans don't even think about this to be honest. Probably has to do with the All-American look being associated with the heavily German and Scandinavian descended Midwest.

[Borealis]

I do not find blonde people at all appealing.

[Daco Celtic]

It applies more to blonde American women than men. We are enchanted by the leggy, buxom blonde women of Texas, like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Maybe the British subconsciously associate blond men with the Danelaw over England... and with Viking raids, brutal slaughters, and attacks! (I'm just joking! )

Brunet hair is more associated with Celts and with ancient iron-age indigineous Britons... so maybe it's a subconscious and tribal association from the past.

It's just a wild guess... but I don't know why we don't idolise blond men in our society.

Gorgeeous Russell Brand and David Gandy (the world's highest paid male model) both have loads of female admirers. Russell Brand has an ancient British iron-age appearance, whereas David Gandy has a Med appearance.

David Beckham has lighter hair and is popular with females. Identical southern English blond twins Matt and Luke Goss had lots of female fans screaming after them in the U.K. when they were in their prime.

Brunet Liam Payne has lots of female admirers in both the U.S. and U.K., and lots of crowds of females can be seen in videos screaming and chasing after him in numerous nations that he's visited.

Henry Cavill was selected by American producers to play superman. Robert Pattinson is also popular in Hollywood movies.

But there's also handsome American men with dark hair who had loads of female admirers in the U.S. and in other nations too, such as gorgeous Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, James Dean, Johnny Depp, and Michael Jackson, for examples. David Copperfield, John Travolta, David Hasselhoff, David Charvet, and George Clooney are brunet too.

I think Elvis said that he dyed his hair even darker than his natural tone to attract more females.

[New user]

We don't? (we certainly have with women though hence the 90s being full of blonde female popstars like Britney Spears). Maybe you just think this because you grew up in Britain? We've had plenty of dark haired individuals considered attractive through the years. Clooney, Jonny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Rob Lowe, Matt Bomer, Robert Downey, Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Collin Farrell, Deniro, Chris Evans, Joe Maganiello (I can't spell his name without google lol), Chris Pine, Clive Owen, Eric Bana, Milo Ventimiglia (former star of heroes). Bale was also loved here. The list in endless. The 80s and 90s especially was full of Rob Lowe lookalikes. To be honest I think we've gotten even darker through the years. Here are all the males on the 100 tv series.



Hell the entire Justice League right now is full of swarthies.

[Valedictorian]

Judge Reinhold is brown haired. And I did read somewhere that the English settlers were from the most Anglo-Saxon parts of England, which explains why someone who is of mostly English descent like Woody Harrelson looks overwhelmingly Germanic; rather like a Dane or a Dutchman.