# People's mate preferences are racist. Do we care? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777 "2010-02-20T17:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/142 "2010-04-09T13:39:31Z")
Coincidence. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/143 "2010-04-09T14:16:45Z")
Wow, we could cite this in that Pit thread about plagiarism. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/144 "2010-04-09T15:00:43Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Yes it would be extraordinarily intrusive to force equality of dating outcomes, but there’s plenty we can do to combat mate racism without blackshirt tactics. We could at least ban sites from encouraging such segregation by offering filter-by-race options, and apply social pressure, by disapproving of mate-racist opinions. Both very cheap and nonintrusive, but we don’t even do that. > [@Oakminster](#): > > What provision of the Constitution would allow Congress to pass such a ban? We could impose a tax on dating sites that offer race-based searches or filters, since these sites operate in interstate commerce. The purpose of this would be to improve the general welfare of the United States. So the General Welfare, Tax, and Commerce Clauses. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/145 "2010-04-09T16:12:30Z")
And without successful hookups, what’ll happen to your posterity? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/146 "2010-04-09T17:14:01Z")
Racist?! So after being told for years how I don’t uhderstand the problems that Blacks face or life in the Barrio is so different than my WASPy upbringing or that the Asian values are so much different than mine THEN you act surprised when we look to within our own culture to find a compatable mate? Explain that to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/147 "2010-04-09T18:21:16Z")
Looking over my list of actresses I find attractive: Paulette Goddard circa 1940. Lauren Bacall circa 1945. Kathleen Turner circa 1983. Sean Young circa 1987. Kathleen Robertson. Dina Meyer. Kate Beckinsale. …a few others who I’m overlooking, but none starkly dissimilar to the above. I guess I’m a Klansman, or something. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/148 "2010-04-09T19:08:03Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Racist?! > > So after being told for years how I don’t uhderstand the problems that Blacks face or life in the Barrio is so different than my WASPy upbringing or that the Asian values are so much different than mine THEN you act surprised when we look to within our own culture to find a compatable mate? > > Explain that to me. Who the hell are you talking to? The voices in your head? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777/149 "2010-04-09T20:57:27Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Who the hell are you talking to? The voices in your head? Just something called the OP > [@](#): > > Of course this is racism, if anything is. But is it good racism? The obvious reason to allow mate racism is that people enjoy mating better when they better like their mates, and people think they care about the race of their mates. But this same argument applies to allowing racism by firms, schools, and clubs. Firms are full of people, including employees, customers, suppliers, and investors, any of which might care about the race of folks with which they would have to deal, mingle, associate, etc.. At schools, the teachers, students, and ultimate employers of those students may also care about race. > > Yes people may be mistaken about how much they care about the race of their associates, and perhaps this justifies government policies forbidding overt racism at firms, schools, or clubs. But why doesn’t this apply just as well to mating? Sure it is impossible to legislate away all racism in dating, but the same is true for hiring etc. Why don’t we at least forbid overt mating racism, such as race-based searches? We could even collect stats on the race of folks that people contact at dating sites, just as we check now on rates rates in hiring at firms, etc. Or are we not allowed to comment on the OP on page 3 of the thread? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoples-mate-preferences-are-racist-do-we-care/529777.md?page=7)