He sounds like an arse. Big red baboon arse.

Why is this lounge material?

I should have posted a penis joke, I guess.

Maybe I'm having a bad day, it didn't seem funny to me.

His suggesting that I dye my hair brown, or my post in general?

Regardless, no, it wasn't a joke. It happened to me, and I still think about it from time to time and wonder if he ever did his study.

Thanks for posting this. I think I now understand why the tourist man suggested I dye my hair brown if I wanted to be taken more seriously.

I still don't get what baboon rumps had to do with it, though. Maybe he was saying he thought the "dumb blond" attitude was instinctive.

Thanks again!

can be tied up in the most superficial of things, regardless of how intelligent or competent the person is...Some of them are justifiable (hygiene, neatness, etc.), while some others are gray area...

For example, there are countless stories of professional women who had to drop (or heavily dilute) their regional or foreign accents to be "taken seriously"

men had fewer restrictions placed on them than women did. (I'm thinking of the 60s.)

I grew up in western Nebraska, an the summer I was 19, my mom asked me to go stay with her sister in Troy, NY for a while, to keep her company because her husband had recently died and she was depressed and lonely.

My aunt was wealthy, and she insisted on buying me stylish clothes, and we dined in expensive restaurants. She introduced me to her friends whenever they happened to stop by our table. My aunt got a huge kick out of my "western drawl" and always made me say something, so as to amuse everyone. Her favorite thing for me to say was "You never can tell, can you?" because according to her, the "proper" way to say it, was "One never knows, does one?" Hilarity ensued whenever I spoke.

One couple who stopped by our table to say hello were Gov. Rockefeller and his new wife, Happy. My aunt introduced me as her niece from the Nebraska sticks, and then made me talk for them. They looked at me kindly, and then at my aunt, not so kindly. As they walked away, Happy squeezed my shoulder.

I never make fun of people's accents, and it irks me that one's regional way of speaking should have anything to do with being taken seriously.

him as having short medium-blond hair.

that's what your subject line should be: Total creep?

I think he believed he was being helpful.