French university to study whether gentleman really do prefer blondes

During a series of erudite talks, experts in literature, art, music and film will examine the male fascination with fair-haired women, delve into stereotypes such as it is easier to seduce a blonde, and see whether they stand up to academic scrutiny.

The conference, called Gentlemen prefer Blondes after the Howard Hawks film starring blonde screen legend Marilyn Monroe, poses such probing questions as: "Why does the blonde exert such fascination and awaken so many fantasies?"

"Blondness awakens desire, probably because of the ambivalence it carries, from innocence to perversion, " said organiser Marie-Camille Bouchindomme.

Such ambivalence can be seen in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses, in which the blonde Cecile de Volanges symbolises innocence while the marquise de Merteuil's fair hair belies scheming cynicism.

While she refused to second-guess the conference's conclusions, Miss Bouchindomme, herself a brunette, said that there was no doubt that fair hair and desire were inextricably linked.

"Blonde hair is an attribute of Venus, the goddess of carnal love, whose hair is sometimes the final rampart against her modesty," she said.

The great French poet Charles Baudelaire offered the "definitive link between blondness and desire," she said, when he wrote: "La femme doit être dorée pour être adorée' (Woman must be golden to be adored)."

"Blonde women seem to invite transgression, and thus erotism," she added.

Debate will also focus on the numerous film directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and Brian De Palma, who have been fascinated, not to say obsessed with blondes.

In his book Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov's described the girl as a brunette, but in all the films of the book she was depicted as fair-haired.

Blondes in paintings by masters like Titian and Botticelli will be examined, while one session will compare different versions of the song Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend – from Marilyn to Madonna.

The organisers insisted that Marilyn Monroe would have approved of the conference, which runs from Jan 16 to 17. "To bring Marilyn into university would have been her dream," they said.