I put race in parentheses because I don’t really believe it exists as a valid category, but most people do, and anyway it’s the best shorthand for complexion/facial features, which is what I want to discuss; in addition, I don’t know how to spell phenotype or use the Oxford English Dictionary I have installed on my computer.
Anyway, as I’ve mentioned in passing a few times, my wife and I had a baby earlier this year, during my absence from the boards. I am of majority African descent (though I’ve identified a Scottish great-grandfather, an Irish great-grandfather, and an Japanese great-grandmother); I am of dark-medium brown complexion. My wife, though self-identifying as black, has an ethnically Jewish parent; her skin, nose, and lips are such that she could pass as white if she felt like it. Our baby is about as dark as me–maybe a hair lighter, but I expect that to change as she spends more time outside.
A friend of mine came to see us last night; she has a Chinese father and German mother, self-identifies as Chinese but looks European (except, very slightly, around the eyes). Her brother and sister both look entirely European. “Emily” is childless but loves babies, so she spent a lot of time playing with the baby, simultaneously entranced and wistful. One thing she said struck me. "Your baby is so, so, beautiful. Black babies are always prettier than white babies; white babies are always so wrinkly, they never look right.:
I’ve heard Emily say things like this before, so I wasn’t really surprised. But the sentiment always seems odd to me. So I ask the following questions:
If you’re a person who generally likes babies: do you ever find yourself preferring the looks of infants of a different skin color or ethnicity than yourself?
Whether or not you like babies: do you know anyone who expresses opinions similar to Emily’s?
You can wait for the poll if you want, but since I’m not going to post one that would be stupid. I shall however share these recipes for pot roast and Vermont apple pie.
White English person. I don’t actually like babies much but I will say that pink skinned babies show up spots and other blemishes more than darker skinned babies so, yeah, black babies tend to look cuter. I have no preference in toddlers however.
I’m probably going to catch shit for this, but I have always felt that “black” and ethnically “mixed” peoples are more often beautiful or eye-catching in a good way than “white” people.
I don’t know what it is, but something about that warm red, yellow, or purple (for really dark-skinned people) skin tone is just fantastically attractive to me. It holds for lighter skins also - my best friend is Greek, and her skin is as pale as mine is, but with these gorgeous golden undertones. Lovely.
I don’t particularly LIKE babies, but I think they’re often quite ugly (I would of course never say so to the parents.) I can’t say that I’ve noticed a difference with babies in regard to “race” and how pretty they are.
I find that personally, I think that a lot more toddler-aged people look “pretty” to me than babies do, and I do think that more darker-skinned toddlers look “pretty” to me. I find it often is because of their gorgeous dark or curly hair.
Northern European-American mutt here, and I lurve me some babies. Best part is holding them close and smelling the top of their heads. It’s like crack, I tell you. Could not care less what color or race the sprog is.
Note: the following is filled with ridiculous over-generalizations, is not meant to offend, and so on. Your mileage may vary.
It seems to me that African-Americans carry their fat better than whites. Perhaps there’s some difference in how fat looks under dark skin rather than light skin, or maybe the skin is more taut in general, but I’ve always found that overweight American whites (generally!) look more doughy and dimpled than overweight American blacks. Since babies have a lot of fat on them, is it possible that this makes the difference to your friend?
In any case, I find babies to be generally cute, regardless of ethnic background. My babies, of course, were cutest of all.
Another Anglo mutt (I’m told the mix includes Irish, Scottish, German, and French-Canadian), and I love babies of any ethnicity. Likewise toddlers and small children. Not so enthused about adolescents.
I also adore baby animals, except snakes and worms (I’m ophidiophobic).
White (euro-mongrel) dude here. Can’t say I’ve noticed much of a phenotypic cuteness differential in infants, they all seem to vary over the same “awwww” to “odd little alien thing” range.
Huh? I’ve never seen a wrinkly baby of any variety. Is she confusing white babies with sharpei puppies?
I love babies of all kinds. My own (although he’s three years old now) is half Caucasion and half Chinese, although he looks almost entirely white. Just some traces of Asian around the nose and eyes.
All babies are cute, but there are some truly breath-taking combinations of skin and eye color I find attractive in some people (babies in particular). Coloring like Vanessa Williams, Micheal Ealy or Gary Dourdan have, blue eyes with dark skin. The Afghani girl who was on the cover of Life magazine with the caramel skin and striking green eyes. A friend of mine has a mixed race daughter and she has the most amazing hazel eyes that complement her skin tone.
Co-workers were lamenting the lack of photos of fellow co-worker’s very recent baby when I quipped (the rather tired old joke I’m afraid) that we didn’t really need photos since all babies looked like Winston Churchill.
The woman standing next to me – her being pale and freckled with red hair – opined that she didn’t really like white babies and much preferred brown ones.
So that would be a yes, I know someone who has expressed an opinion similar to Emily’s.
I’m an Aussie with German/English/Scottish/Irish ancestry.
I have a tendency to find adults with a different phenotype to me more attractive, but this doesn’t apply to babies. All babies are cute! I’m too busy cooing over their tiny features and squishy faces to pay any attention to skin tone etc.
I understand that one of my brother’s friends, Chinese married to a Spaniard, was upset because she thought her child looked “too Chinese”, she wanted him to look Spanish damnit! As the husband pointed out, her concept of “looking Spanish” was a genetic impossibility (and it doesn’t match the Spaniards’ own concept, but she was too upset to understand this).
That’s the only case I’ve heard of, and we understand it was more a matter of wanting the kid to fit in than of actual beauty standards.
Furious Marmot, I’ve seen wrinkly newborns, but at that stage they’re wrinkly and squished no matter what their race. Methinks Emily is one of those people who believe that blacks don’t get acne: she doesn’t see it, you see.
There’s something mesmerising about babies from a dark skinned African or similar background. I don’t know if it’s just that they’re the Other (as opposed to the Everyday - my hometown has been fairly racial homogenous until recent years and that’s reflected in my social circle and family), but I find them so beautiful. My daughter went to daycare with the daughter of a Somalian refugee and she was the sweetest little thing.
I’m gaga for babies of my own race too, so this is probably meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
I tend to like medium-dark tones myself, in babies or adults. So, latino, asian, etc, all make for pretty babies.
White babies are ok too in their own way but frankly I’m just not a big fan of white skin in general. It shows blemishes much more prominently and the color just looks somehow “wrong” to me.
That isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of attractive white people (I’m a white guy myself and I’m not hideous), but I think medium-dark skin tones are just the best overall. Too dark though and it starts to look “wrong” again in some way (maybe it smooths out tone too much?). I guess I just don’t like the extremes, prefer the middle of the complexion spectrum.
