I ask the men because I’m female, and I’m straight.
Ok, I have brown skin. It’s not uniform, but mostly it’s the shade and color of coffee with a lot of cream in it. (Which coincidentally, is the way I like my coffee). In the summer if I’m out a lot it darkens to coffee with only a little cream in it, but it’s never dark brown. The parts of me that aren’t exposed to sunlight are almost white, but still have that slight undertone of brown. My face is very light-skinned.
In some books I have read, creamy, white skin is highly valued. Indian mothers of sons say to their sons, “How about that girl? Look how fair-skinned she is.” My mother told me about my ex-boyfriend, “How can you like him? He’s so dark.” And he was *very * handsome.
Now I’ve got no self-esteem issues with my skin tone. I’m brown, so that’s the way it is. But I do wonder if people like this kind of skin, and I thought: what better place to ask than on the SDMB?
Skin color is not important to me, personally. I mean, if we’re making a list of the top 25 things that are physically desireable, a skin color (for me) would be like #24.
But if you hold a gun to my head and make me pick, I like porcelain white skin. Like this lady.
Skin colour isn’t very important, but healthy skin is very important, as far as attraction to a womans appearence goes for me. Blotchy or dry skin is unattractive. Smoothe healthy looking skin is attractive. As for colour that isn’t very important, but for me an olive or black skin is the most esthetically pleasing.
Another male who likes dark skin just fine. Or rather, there are many different ways a woman can be attractive, and several of them include dark skin. It depends on the whole package.
Speaking as somebody who has had girlfriends of various shades, I like brown skin just fine. It’s not the skin, it’s what’s inside it that makes the difference.
All other things being equal, I prefer brown skin. It may be because my skin is so fair and it’s a subliminal genetic urge to have some sun protection (isn’t that romantic!) I was just at a customer’s house; she said she is half Cuban/half Italian, and she was, frankly, stunning. I imagine her skin tone was roughly equivalent to yours, as it looked like she did a lot of outdoor activities.
BTW, thanks for giving more visual clues for this thread.
As nearly everyone else has said, skin tone is pretty far down the list of importance.
However, as far as pure physical attractiveness is concerned, I am much more attracted to darker skinned women than ivory skinned women. Give me a Jessica Alba over a Nicole Kidman any day. I think this is one reason why I find Asian women attractive.
It has to be mostly natural though. A darkly tanned blond doesn’t necessarily do it for me. Of course, the blond might be attractive in her own right, but to me it wouldn’t have anything to do with her tan.
It really doesn’t matter what shade you are. If you are comfortable with it and have comfort in yourself, most men won’t care. Sure, there are men who won’t date anyone “outside of their race.” But pay them no mind at all; us evolved men like lots of different women and lots of different colors.
I wouldn’t worry about the color of your skin. Worry about other things you have more control over. Such as: your attitude, your confidence, your hair cut, your wardrobe, your depth or personality, etc… The perception that men want one specific type of woman is a media myth. Some men do, but the ones stonger willed than a dodo bird like lots of different types.
I noticed that my Thai teacher and one of my classmates from Cambodia when I was studying Thai at uni were both convinced by their families that they were less attractive because their skin was too dark.
Both of them were drop dead gorgeous. My teacher did have a darkish skin tone for the average Thai woman, but it suited her rather than otherwise. I mean, like everyone’s said, it really didn’t matter. The Cambodian woman had very delicately pale coffee coloured skin, and I thought that it was gorgeous, again it suited her face. But to hear them talk, they’d never be as beautiful as a paler skinned woman. Used to drive me crazy!
Well, considering the conversation you, Angua, and I had in your MPSIMS thread, I think it should be apparent what my opinions on brown skin are but for the benefit of everyone else: YES… I love darker women and am inordinately attracted to Southeast Asians, Indians, Persians, and Latinas.
I like white and black girls fine too, but I have a bit of a thing for girls with a really healthy mocha skin tone, especially if it’s combined with long black hair and really deep, dark eyes.
And if you look at my location, you may figure out that makes me very comfortable. But then again, I have a catholic taste in skin tones. Alabaster, mocha, olive, ebony… like it was said above, it’s the whole package.
It’s not the color of the skin that matters but the shape. If you ask a thousand guys (of any color) “who’s hotter, Beyonce Knowles or Janet Reno?” Is Janet Reno’s milky white skin going to play any part whatever in the answers?
