OK Cupid did a studyabout which races were more likely to get a conversation started on their site. It found that Asian men had a strong preference for Asian women and a strong aversion to black women.
That Black men had a mild aversion to white women.
That Latino men had a slight preference for Latina women and a strong aversion to black women. That white men had a slight preference for Asian and white women, and a strong aversion to black women.
Asian women had a strong preference for Asian and white men, and a strong aversion to black men and latino men.
Black women had a strong preference for black men, a slight aversion to white men and a middle level aversion to Asian men.
Latina women had a middling preference for latino and white men, and a middling aversion to Asian and black men.
White women had a strong preference for white men, and a middling aversion to Asian and black men.
Tindrdid a similar study and they found that Black, Latino, and White men were most likely to respond to Asian women. Asian men were most likely to respond to Latino women.
Asian, Black, Latino, and White men were all least likely to respond to Black women.
Asian, Latino, and White women were most likely to respond to White men, and Black women were most likely to respond to Black men.
Asian, Latino, and White women were least likely to respond to Black men, and Black women were least likely to respond to White men.
Stuck was no more than loosely inspired by the Mallard killing. The plot of the movie veers far away from real-life events pretty early in the narrative. Additionally, Suvari did not play Mallard – Suvari played a character of another name altogether.
Are those self-identifications or set by the site? In any case the labels do refer to a variety of things (some are more culture-based, some more looks-based), so the breakdowns aren’t as clear-cut as it may seem at first (even without adding “mixed race” and similar).
I think Hollywood and Madison Ave have a much more keen understanding of what American society considers attractive than any individual. I keep hearing that they favor “whites” in their ads and movies, but maybe that is a wrong impression.
are you forgetting the Quadroon Balls in New Orleans? And light-skinned Blacks preferring light skinned or white partners (see Lena Horne family on third or fourth interracial marriage)
I’ll be honest with you, when that story first broke I was shocked, 100% shocked, to find out that the driver was black. It just seemed to me a lot more like something you’d picture a white person doing.
Um, you seem like a nice guy and all, but this post is kind of cray. Quadroon balls had nothing to do with light-skinned blacks having a preference for whites. They had everything to do with powerful white men wanting to get their freak on with “exotic” women–women who had very few options for social status and comfort outside of being a well-maintained side piece.
My third great-grandfather (white) and third great-grandmother (black) had an arrangement like this. She and another woman were his concubines, and they both had a number of children with this dude–who was a highly-respected pillar of the community and whose obituary only mentioned his siblings as surviving relatives. This “pillar of the community” also saw fit to have sexual relations with one of his daughters (my second great grand-aunt) and they had a son together. Now, maybe in 1870s Tennessee, there was some mutual ebony-and-ivory lovin’ going on, but I suspect this was less about love and attraction on my great-grandmother’s part and more about survival and pragmatism.
So I would not be citing a fucking quadroon ball as evidence that black people don’t have a problem with interracial relationships. A lot of us do have a problem…and it is because of that kind of stuff.
This is just me speaking ex cathedra from my ass, but given that our culture usually deems a white woman as the paragon of sexual appeal Marilyn Monroe in the 60’s, Farrah Fawcett-Majors in the 70’s, Scarlett Johansson or Angelina Jolie today - it’s not surprising that black men would also feel this societal influence, and pursue women who match that ideal. As has been pointed out, black women don’t get the same cultural validation, so white men are not pushed toward seeing them as desirable. (In broad strokes, though; the truth, of course, is that some white men are attracted to some black women, and vice versa.)
That does seem to me as though it’s changing a bit; women like Halle Berry and Beyoncé are held up as beauties in a way that I don’t recall applied to any African-American woman when I was a teenager in the 80’s.
Isn’t there also a dynamic among black men that says having a white lover is a marker of status? I’m a white man, thus unqualified to comment on black culture; perhaps monstro or or you with the face could elucidate?
My apologies if this comes off as hostile but HELL NO!!! Maybe that was the case way back in the day but it damn sure hasn’t been true throughout the course of my lifetime. The reasons why some of us date white women are vast and varied but status isn’t even factored into the equation.
I’ve heard black comedians joking that the first thing a black man does after getting successful is get a white girlfriend. Is that supposed to be funny because black men DON’T do that, or because they DO do that?
(Not that you speak for all black men or whatever)
There is always going to be a subset of any demographic who are motivated to do certain things out of a desire for status. No group is immune to this.
There are black guys who only chase light-skimned girls not just because they perceive them as more attractive, but because they enjoy the image of themselves with a light-skinned girl on their arm. It is an image that makes him feel important, like a dude who has got it going on. Just like the image of him owninv a new sports or the image of him in an Armani suit.
I have observed with my own eyes guys dogging the hell out of cute and attractive dark skinned girls. They don’t single out other “ugly” people for some reason, but they see fit to denigrate this group at the top of ther lungs. Why do they do this? My surmise is they are hungry for status. If you can’t get you a “high status” girl, the next best thing is to talk shit about the girl you view as “low status”. That way she won’t get her cooties on you.
Now, not all blacks guys do this and not all black guys desire light-skinned/white girls just to use them as a status symbol. But some significant portion do both of these things…or at least they have gone through a phase of doing these things.
There are black woman who do the same thing, by the way. They play up their interracial romance not just because they are in love with their white guy, but because they think having a white guy to show off makes them hot shit. Do a whole lot of black women do this? I have no idea. But I have come across enough stuff on the internet to know it is a real phenomenon.
Thanks for weighing in - I was hoping a black Doper would comment. I didn’t take that as hostility. And I really should have said “among some black men”.
But wasn’t the tension over Wesley Snipes dating a white woman the driving conflict in Jungle Fever? Or was that more about the perception of him devaluing black women by dating outside the community?
Eh. These things often happen subconsciously. The pursuit of status is a constant in our species, and it’s naive to think this doesn’t affect who pairs with whom. Especially when some demographic groups are not as socially esteemed as others.
That doesn’t mean every single IR relationship can be judged.