A friend of mine is obsessed with Hispanic men. She likes them tall, tan, and handsome. We discussed if that was racist in any way.
Here is one good article I wanted to share with you guys:
Is It Racist to Have a Racial Dating Preference? by Kyndall Cunningham
I wont post the entire article here but I will go over some ideas I like and what helped me answer the question on dating racial preferences vs. racism. The first thing that caught my eye is that there was even a term for this, which is "sexual racism".
"The term "sexual racism" has roots in the 1970s and was defined by Rutgers University professor Charles Herbert Stember as the "sexual rejection of the racial minority" and "the conscious attempt on the part of the majority to prevent interracial cohabitation. Modern usage of the term frequently refers to racial prejudice that's disguised as "just a preference" on dating apps and in real-life social settings."
The author gives evidence for sexual racism:
"In 2014, OkCupid founder Christian Rudder wrote a blog post analyzing race and attraction on the site. User data found that most men rated Black women as less attractive than women of other races. Likewise, Asian men were ranked as the least attractive group by most women."
"These stats echo the historical degradation and defeminization of Black women's appearances in racist media as well as the stereotypical feminization of Asian men in television and movies."
"Most importantly, people of color do not have the social power or influence that white people have when they use harmful stereotypes to reject entire groups of people. Nor are there systems in place that enforce the idea that white people are undesirable."
My conclusion is that dating preferences are a form of racism if they are based on negative stereotypes.
Here is one good article I wanted to share with you guys:
Is It Racist to Have a Racial Dating Preference? by Kyndall Cunningham
I wont post the entire article here but I will go over some ideas I like and what helped me answer the question on dating racial preferences vs. racism. The first thing that caught my eye is that there was even a term for this, which is "sexual racism".
"The term "sexual racism" has roots in the 1970s and was defined by Rutgers University professor Charles Herbert Stember as the "sexual rejection of the racial minority" and "the conscious attempt on the part of the majority to prevent interracial cohabitation. Modern usage of the term frequently refers to racial prejudice that's disguised as "just a preference" on dating apps and in real-life social settings."
The author gives evidence for sexual racism:
"In 2014, OkCupid founder Christian Rudder wrote a blog post analyzing race and attraction on the site. User data found that most men rated Black women as less attractive than women of other races. Likewise, Asian men were ranked as the least attractive group by most women."
"These stats echo the historical degradation and defeminization of Black women's appearances in racist media as well as the stereotypical feminization of Asian men in television and movies."
"Most importantly, people of color do not have the social power or influence that white people have when they use harmful stereotypes to reject entire groups of people. Nor are there systems in place that enforce the idea that white people are undesirable."
My conclusion is that dating preferences are a form of racism if they are based on negative stereotypes.
Last edited by a moderator: