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[lmpaler]

For me to find an Asian pretty she usually(not always, but mostly) has to be mixed. I have met a lot and the ones I have found the most attractive are usually half Asian and half[something].

With black girls, for me, there is such a thing as too dark. Not trying to sound like a racist prick, but I have yet to see a really dark black girl that I find attractive. Again, they are all usually mixed.

Don't know exactly why, but that is just how it is. I could never quite figure it out to be honest.

I also don't really like super pale white girls either, I have seen some that I find cute, but usually not, the tone turns me off.

 

[Figboy79]

I can't say if it's right or wrong, but personally, I can't imagine having a preference for any particular race.

My wife is white, and I am black/samoan, but outside of my youth, where I simply assumed people of the same race ended up together, because that's what I saw growing up in Milwaukee (which was a predominately white, black, and Puerto Rican population).

When I moved out to Los Angeles, which is, in my opinion, one of the most diverse populations in the US in terms of ethnic makeup, I learned that, no, I have no particular preference for any nationality. I love women, pure and simple. Doesn't matter what height, weight, race, etc, etc. Well, weight I may have a slight preference, because I'm a short guy, but if a woman has proportions I find appealing, and a great personality, I don't care if she's "fat" or thin.

My wife was pretty thin when we met, and now she has great hips and big boobs. I can't complain.

If I was single, I can't see myself only targeting a specific nationality/race. A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman. I've seen absolutely stunning women, from the darkest of the dark, to the palest of the pale. I love living in Los Angeles...

 

[Yado]

I don't see what the problem is with having an opinion or preference. It is your sexual attraction. Personal attraction and sexual are the two sides of a successful relationship. If one simply isn't there the relationship won't work in the long term. I don't think anyone (I may be wrong, I haven't read the whole thread) is saying they aren't attracted to a certain race because of things like "They're too loud" or "They're all annoying" like that. It is simply "I am not sexually attracted to this race." Nothing more, nothing less.



I suppose the latter. It is hard to explain my preference because I generally prefer white girls with big butts which is a pretty common feature of African Americans. I just have never felt an attraction to them even with the ones who are considered outrageously beautiful like Beyonce or Halle Barry.

So knowing that a woman is black is what makes her unappealing, not a particular physical trait.

 

[Zozz]

I'd date any girl of any race, no prejudice.

I do tend to go after white woman the most tho, love white women.

 

[royalan]

Because what you're complaining about is actually nothing more then a preference. He never once said that all black women look the same like you keep trying to shove down peoples throats. Just that he only likes lighter skin tones. Which should be about as offensive to people as me saying I'm not attracted to overweight women, or skinny women, or blonde women or redheads.

Do you really think it's a coincidence that some people so staunchly see darker skin tones as unattractive?

Do you really think it's a coincidence that the predominate trait of a group of people that were brutalized, enslaved, and legally regarded as less than human for hundreds of years, and people who were historically seen as less socially desirable because this trait marked them as working class continues to be underrepresented in media and seen as less desirable?

 

[n00bsauce87]

Answers to all of these can be found in the other posts I've made in the thread. I have never once stated that I dislike non-Asian women. For the millionth time. I like them all. I just find some people more attractive than others.

So what about her ethnicity make her more attractive than those who are African American? I don't mean to be frank, but you can't tell me by just on vision alone that you shrivel up at the sight of an African American, or Hispanic or any other ethnic woman.

That just seems weird

I made no mention of liking or not liking.

Try it again Grizz

 

[GrizzNKev]

I made no mention of liking or not liking.

Try it again Grizz

Really?

I don't mean to be frank, but you can't tell me by just on vision alone that you shrivel up at the sight of an African American, or Hispanic or any other ethnic woman.

That just seems weird

Sounds to me like you're accusing me of something there. Something that's not in line with any of my responses or the OP.

 

[aly]

I don't think anyone is saying that you can't like what you like. However, isn't it a little bit strange that so people see certain traits like dark skin as being unattractive? That a whole group of unrepresented people are seen as less attractive?

fake edit: Beaten

 

[Enzom21]

Because what you're complaining about is actually nothing more then a preference. He never once said that all black women look the same like you keep trying to shove down peoples throats. Just that he only likes lighter skin tones. Which should be about as offensive to people as me saying I'm not attracted to overweight women, or skinny women, or blonde women or redheads.

You're conveniently ignoring talk about feature and hair type that were used as examples as to why black women are not attractive to some people in this thread.

Saying you're not attracted to someone because they are overweight, or skinny women, or blonde or redheaded is not the same as saying I am not attracted to black women because they possess certain facial features, or they have a certain type of hair or they have dark skin.

All fat woman are fat, all blonde women are blonde, all redhead women are redheads. Not all black women have certain facial features, or dark skin or certain types of hair. It is not the same thing.

These are the types of generalizations being made in this thread.

 

[n00bsauce87]

As far as I know Ukraine and Russia don't hate each other because of the way people from one of these countries look. A east african person saying not to date or marry a "black girl" because she has dark skin, big nose or big lips is racial hate.

You'll find the most vile hate and bigotry amongst people of the same or closely regarded race.

No race is free of this form of stupidity.

Which is it GAF?

Racism involves power dynamics in society, that example doesn't apply here. Being stereotypical would be more accurate.

 

[Tenks]

Do you really think it's a coincidence that some people so staunchly see darker skin tones as unattractive?

Do you really think it's a coincidence that the predominate trait of a group of people that were brutalized, enslaved, and legally regarded as less than human for hundreds of years, and people who were historically seen as less socially desirable because this trait marked them as working class continues to be underrepresented in media and seen as less desirable?

Idk the media has pretty much always portrayed middle eastern people as terrible (edit: since I've been alive/old enough to understand the news) but I still find middle eastern girls insanely attractive

 

[theignoramus]

No they are not. There are people here saying "I don't find dark skin attractive therefore I don't find black women attractive" or "I don't like the facial features of black women so I don't find black women attractive."

Not all black women are dark skinned and all black women don't have the same facial features.

If when describing someone you tell me they are fat I can expect that person to more than likely be overweight.

Now if you tell me that a person is black I would have no idea if that person was light or dark skinned, what type of facial features they have, what type of hair they have, etc.

So claiming that you find no black women attractive because you don't like dark skin or you don't find certain facial features or hair types attractive is racist because you're attributing those particular features to all black women.

the "black" features most commonly alluded to by people in here professing their utter and complete inability to be sexually attracted to black women are West African. Thick lips, broad nose, dark skin. Like Ive said repeatedly, I dont think it's a coincidence that the group historically maligned and devalued, maybe more than anyone else, just happens to be the group these dudes arent attracted to. But whatever. They are free to wallow about in their shallow pond.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Do you really think it's a coincidence that some people so staunchly see darker skin tones as unattractive?

Do you really think it's a coincidence that the predominate trait of a group of people that were brutalized, enslaved, and legally regarded as less than human for hundreds of years, and people who were historically seen as less socially desirable because this trait marked them as working class continues to be underrepresented in media and seen as less desirable?

I'm not going to make a judgement on a single individual and claim he's something bad off a simple line like saying that he prefers lighter skin tones. He could be that way, but to jump to that conclusion without knowing anything else about him is fucking dumb. You're filling in a lot of blanks yourself and assuming things because you think you can apply the studies you've read to an individual you know little to nothing about.

 

[.GqueB.]

But this doesn't make sense. Just because people have varying preferences doesn't discount the role society plays in shaping the majority of those preferences. It's the same with just about anything that gets hyped by the media as being "the standard."

Using gaming as an example. Most FPS fans who also post on GAF would likely say that the Call of Duty is not an example of a perfect FPS, because they're more aware of other representations of the genre that exist in other games. But that doesn't change the effect that the constant media representation of Call of Duty has had on society as a whole, with a vast majority of people think CoD is THE FPS.

Yea but is it "society" or simply how preferences have changed over time? Nature vs Nurture. Actually, explain what you mean by "society". Because that's the disconnect for me.

 

[Petrie]

the "black" features most commonly alluded to by people in here professing their utter and complete inability to be sexually attracted to black women are West African. Thick lips, broad nose, dark skin. Like Ive said repeatedly, I dont think it's a coincidence that the group historically maligned and devalued just happens to be the group these dudes arent attracted to. But whatever. They are free to wallow about in their shallow pond.

I wouldn't find those things attractive no matter who they were associated with.

 

[OrangeJulius]

Only on GAF can an issue that basically boils down to "different strokes for different folks" turn into a full blown race argument.

 

[n00bsauce87]

Really?.

So I'm confused, if you like like everyone (and I'm not implying that you are lying at all, I believe you), what activates the level of attractiveness between Asian females and other females. As I mentioned before, is it personalities? Past experiences? Physical features? It can't be just because they are Asian.

 

[RM8]

So I'm confused, if you like like everyone (and I'm not implying that you are lying at all, I believe you), what activates the level of attractiveness between Asian females and other females. As I mentioned before, is it personalities? Past experiences? Physical features? It can't be just because they are Asian.

Since the thread states it's about aesthetic preferences, I'm going to guess he's talking about physical features indeed.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

You're conveniently ignoring talk about feature and hair type that were used as examples as to why black women are not attractive to some people in this thread.

Saying you're not attracted to someone because they are overweight, or skinny women, or blonde or redheaded is not the same as saying I am not attracted to black women because they possess certain facial features, or they have a certain type of hair or they have dark skin.

All fat woman are fat, all blonde women are blonde, all redhead women are redheads. Not all black women have certain facial features, or dark skin or certain types of hair. It is not the same thing.

These are the types of generalizations being made in this thread.

I don't know how many times I have to tell you that I'm only referring to one poster before you understand. I'm not going to repeat it again. I'm not conveniently ignoring anything. I'm ignoring it because it's relating to people I'm not talking about or trying to defend. If you keep referring to other people in the thread while quoting me I'm just going to ignore you. My whole point is THAT ONE POSTER isn't prejudice and didn't claim that all black women look the same like you claimed he did.

 

[GrizzNKev]

So I'm confused, if you like like everyone (and I'm not implying that you are lying at all, I believe you), what activates the level of attractiveness between Asian females and other females. As I mentioned before, is it personalities? Past experiences? Physical features? It can't be just because they are Asian.

The shape of their faces, eyes and noses, their body proportions, their height relative to myself. Within that, skin tone isn't important, as tan or as pale as they go, they're all good. And, as is the premise of this thread, this is purely visual.

I hit on the girl who is now my girlfriend because she displayed physical features I liked. That has nothing to do with why I like a person. It's just a strong motivation for desired contact, as I think is common among men. I didn't stay with her for 3.5 years just because she's Asian. That's ridiculous.

 

[Opiate]

I wouldn't find those things attractive no matter who they were associated with.

I think the question is whether that is an inherent, built in preference, or a bias so deep rooted and subconscious that you can't tell the difference.

Certainly, some specific people would have a preference for more narrow noses just by random chance. Unfortunately, it's impossible to distinguish between people who just happen to have this preference because of some genetic predisposition and those who have some subconcious bias that even they are not aware of. That's before you get to the open racists, of course.

 

[Black-Wind]

To me "preference" is very much ok. We all prefer different things right? That's just how we roll.

But the problematic side comes from swinging too far to either side ...

For example, if I said "I prefer White Women" it just means that in someway I normally find them more attractive but in no way am I against being with other groups. BUT, if I say I "only like white women" or that I "don't like Asian/ Mexican/ Black " women I'm saying a sweeping generalization that says I find something about them as inherently unattractive regardless of how there's a fucking rainbow of ways any woman in those groups could look.

Same with the reverse. It's not good to fetishize a group of women or men which is normally the cause with "yellow fever" people. I would suggest stepping back and trying to pin down why exactly you have "yellow fever".

 

[Enzom21]

I don't know how many times I have to tell you that I'm only referring to one poster before you understand. I'm not going to repeat it again. If you keep referring to other people in the thread while quoting me I'm just going to ignore you. My whole point is THAT ONE POSTER isn't prejudice and didn't claim that all black women look the same like you claimed he did.

Ignore me all you like, I couldn't give a shit. The original post of mine you responded to was not about one individual post.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Ignore me all you like, I couldn't give a shit. The original post of mine you responded to was not about one individual post.

The ensuing conversation after it was. Which is the conversation I jumped into. It's not my fault you can't keep up with your own debates.

 

[n00bsauce87]

The shape of their faces, eyes and noses, their body proportions, their height relative to myself. Within that, skin tone isn't important, as tan or as pale as they go, they're all good. And, as is the premise of this thread, this is purely visual.

I hit on the girl who is now my girlfriend because she displayed physical features I liked. That has nothing to do with why I like a person. It's just a strong motivation for desired contact, as I think is common among men. I didn't stay with her for 3.5 years just because she's Asian. That's ridiculous.

Gotcha and that would be ridiculous.

 

[Enzom21]

The ensuing conversation after it was. Which is the conversation I jumped into. It's not my fault you can't keep up with your own debates.

No it wasn't genius. You and your buddy made it about that one post. I was always talking about broad generalizations in this thread.

 

[Tenks]

Yeah I'm also not attracted to women taller than I am so does that make me a heightist?

 

[StuBurns]

No it wasn't genius. You and your buddy made it about that one post. I was always talking about broad generalizations in this thread.

This is pretty easily fixed then.

Find a post saying all black women look the same.

 

[OrangeJulius]

Same with the reverse. It's not good to fetishize a group of women or men which is normally the cause with "yellow fever" people. I would suggest stepping back and trying to pin down why exactly you have "yellow fever".

Can you expound further on that? I admit I may just be playing devils advocate as someone who finds people of all ethnic backgrounds attractive. But I'm curious as to why you think it's yours or anybodies business why someone prefers one race or another?

 

[Madness]

Do you really think it's a coincidence that some people so staunchly see darker skin tones as unattractive?

Do you really think it's a coincidence that the predominate trait of a group of people that were brutalized, enslaved, and legally regarded as less than human for hundreds of years, and people who were historically seen as less socially desirable because this trait marked them as working class continues to be underrepresented in media and seen as less desirable?

I agree. Light/fair skin has been been valued for centuries to millenia. In terms if India, it was rooted in the caste system, in places like China and Korea, it often meant those who were darker were not rich, royalty, worked the fields etc.

Many Indians would discriminate against themselves in terms of skin color. So naturally, it becomes subconscious that darker skin is something that is lesser. You see it in places like Brazil, Italy, Mexico as well.

 

[Opiate]

To provide a non-real-world example of the problem I identified earlier, imagine if 90% of women preferred white men. All of them claimed to simply prefer lighter skin on men, and prefer taller men, and prefer narrower noses, for example, and that these were just their preferences and they aren't consciously racist.

It's just what they happen to prefer, just like one of us might prefer red hair or something. Again, for any specific individual, that's completely fine, but clearly something must be up if 90% of women just so happen to prefer white men, even if it isn't a conscious choice. Something must be going on underneath the surface of consciousness that is causing such a hugely disproportionate number of women to prefer white men.

Now apply this same concept to the real world, just with less exaggerated percentages.

 

[Sneds]

This is pretty easily fixed then.

Find a post saying all black women look the same.

The guy I quoted earlier who talked about 'certain facial features' came very close to that.

To provide a non-real-world example of the problem I identified earlier, imagine if 90% of women preferred white men. All of them claimed to simply prefer lighter skin on men, and prefer taller men, and prefer narrower noses, for example, and that these were just their preferences and they aren't consciously racist.

It's just what they happen to prefer, just like one of us might prefer red hair or something. Again, for any specific individual, that's completely fine, but clearly something must be up if 90% of women just so happen to prefer white men, even if it isn't a conscious choice. Something must be going on underneath the surface of consciousness that is causing such a hugely disproportionate number of women to prefer white men.

Now apply this same concept to the real world, just with less exaggerated percentages.

That's a good way of putting it.

 

[Eidan]

To provide a non-real-world example of the problem I identified earlier, imagine if 90% of women preferred white men. All of them claimed to simply prefer lighter skin on men, and prefer taller men, and prefer narrower noses, for example, and that these were just their preferences and they aren't consciously racist.

It's just what they happen to prefer, just like one of us might prefer red hair or something. Again, for any specific individual, that's completely fine, but clearly something must be up if 90% of women just so happen to prefer white men, even if it isn't a conscious choice. Something must be going on underneath the surface of consciousness that is causing such a hugely disproportionate number of women to prefer white men.

Now apply this same concept to the real world, just with less exaggerated percentages.

Sounds similar to those OKCupid stats on racial preferences.

 

[hipbabboom]

Which is it GAF?

Racism involves power dynamics in society, that example doesn't apply here. Being stereotypical would be more accurate.

Note I never used the word racism. I'm very aware of the difference.

 

[RockTurtle]

i would like to say that mixed race women are some of the most beautiful women i've ever met, and rarely met a mixed raced person who was attractive

(you can see the genetic diversity oozing out their pores! enough mixture for genetic diversity while still maintaining similar traits)

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/articles/mixed-race-people-perceived-as-more-attractive-4286.html

mmmmm gimme them genes GURL!

 

[royalan]

Only on GAF can an issue that basically boils down to "different strokes for different folks" turn into a full blown race argument.

Dude, Only on GAF? Are you really that sheltered--that ignorant of the reality of race and how it has been discussed in most Western societies for the better half of the last century? This is not a GAF thing.

I think the question is whether that is an inherent, built in preference, or a bias so deep rooted and subconscious that you can't tell the difference.

Certainly, some specific people would have a preference for more narrow noses just by random chance. Unfortunately, it's impossible to distinguish between people who just happen to have this preference because of some genetic predisposition and those who have some subconcious bias that even they are not aware of. That's before you get to the open racists, of course.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a guy in a bar recently, which in turn reminds me of a lot of the responses in this thread. Basically went like this:

"I'm not really attracted to black girls, no offense. I tend to go for white and hispanic girls. I think some Asian girls are hot too. Heck, I guess if I meet a pretty black girl she could get it too."

And my response was basically, "...so, you're attracted to pretty girls, then?"

And he was visibly thrown off. I could tell that he was only just realizing how petty the distinction was that he had made when directly challenged on it. I feel this is true of a lot of people I have this discussion with, and a lot of posters in this thread. They rush to make a distinction that almost always completely falls apart when they're forced to confront it logically.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

No it wasn't genius. You and your buddy made it about that one post. I was always talking about broad generalizations in this thread.

Really? Because I'm pretty sure you said he was somehow racist for saying that he didn't like dark skinned women and compared it to calling all black people stupid. You didn't specifically name him, but he certainly falls into the group of "People who aren't attracted to black women."

 

[Madrin]

I'm white and almost everyone I know is white, but olive-skinned Hispanic women are the most attractive women in the world to me. Too bad I don't know any

 

[OrangeJulius]

Dude, Only on GAF? Are you really that sheltered--that ignorant of the reality of race and how it has been discussed in most Western societies for the better half of the last century? This is not a GAF thing..

The comment was made at least partially in jest, I'm sorry it's hard to convey on the internet sometimes.

This thread is feeling very witch hunty though, maybe it wasn't a good place to make a joke.

 

[Blearth]

I grew up in a majority Asian town with almost no white people.

White girls are exotic to me.

 

[n00bsauce87]

Note I never used the word racism. I'm very aware of the difference.

I know you didn't, also there's nothing involving "racial hate".

 

[besada]

I ran across this today, while contemplating this issue. You may enjoy it, you may not.

INTERRACIAL DATING IN A “COLOR-BLIND” SOCIETY: ROMANTIC ATTRACTION
AND IDEOLOGIES AMONG COLLEGE MEN

It's a PDF.

 

[StuBurns]

To provide a non-real-world example of the problem I identified earlier, imagine if 90% of women preferred white men. All of them claimed to simply prefer lighter skin on men, and prefer taller men, and prefer narrower noses, for example, and that these were just their preferences and they aren't consciously racist.

It's just what they happen to prefer, just like one of us might prefer red hair or something. Again, for any specific individual, that's completely fine, but clearly something must be up if 90% of women just so happen to prefer white men, even if it isn't a conscious choice. Something must be going on underneath the surface of consciousness that is causing such a hugely disproportionate number of women to prefer white men.

Now apply this same concept to the real world, just with less exaggerated percentages.

Well, problem suggests this could actually affect population or something. Obviously nearly four billion women can't date a billion white men, so for the vast majority of that 90%, it's tough shit. They either go with something other than their preference, or they don't procreate. That issue will just automatically resolve itself.

The more ethical question is interesting, side stepping the possible parental/environmental racism aspect (which is certainly worthy of debate too, but probably far more difficult), there is the issue of who defines the typical depiction of beauty within our culture, and it's TV, film, music videos, adverts, etc. It's no surprise those yearly 'Top 100 sexiest women' things are just popularity contests. One year Miley Cyrus has some video of her sucking on a hammer so she wins, the next year Jennifer Lawrence plays a sex obsessed dancer in a hit film, so she wins, it's nothing to do with how attractive the person is, it's how popular the person is, which is just controlled by Hollywood and their publicist primarily. I don't want to be rude, but whatever Holly Willoughby pays her publicist, they're clearly worth double.

But then the issue is why are almost all of these women white? I just checked one of those Maxim lists, of the top fifty there were two black women, Rhianna and Beyonce. The reason white women are primarily cast in Hollywood is because foreign market sales of films are defined by stars, if you hire a 'B-list' star, you can sell the movie to foreign markets for more than if you cast a 'C-list' star. So then why are the biggest stars white? It's a cyclical issue, people want to see pretty white people, so Hollywood casts them, which increases the cultural demand for more pretty white people.

Much like your micro versus macro level comparison with racial attractiveness, no one film is responsible for the continued cycle, but the industry as a whole is. If it was your eighty million dollars, are you going to purposely hurt the sales of your film for moral reasons? Probably not, should the government step in and mandate you do? In my mind, certainly not, but that's up for debate.

 

[Opiate]

Well, problem suggests this could actually affect population or something. Obviously nearly four billion women can't date a billion white men, so for the vast majority of that 90%, it's tough shit. They either go with something other than their preference, or they don't procreate. That issue will just automatically resolve itself.

I'm not sure I agree. Even using your imagined outcome, what would likely happen is that

1) White men get their pick of the bunch. Lazy, unaccomplished, obnoxious white men may have better chances than accomplished, hard working, kind hearted Indians, for instance.
2) Some women will indeed choose not to procreate if they don't find their "perfect match" which, to them, may mean a white male.

The more ethical question is interesting, side stepping the possible parental/environmental racism aspect (which is certainly worthy of debate too, but probably far more difficult), there is the issue of who defines the typical depiction of beauty within our culture, and it's TV, film, music videos, adverts, etc. It's no surprise those yearly 'Top 100 sexiest women' things are just popularity contests. One year Miley Cyrus has some video of her sucking on a hammer so she wins, the next year Jennifer Lawrence plays a sex obsessed dancer in a hit film, so she wins, it's nothing to do with how attractive the person is, it's how popular the person is, which is just controlled by Hollywood and their publicist primarily. I don't want to be rude, but whatever Holly Willoughby pays her publicist, they're clearly worth double.

But then the issue is why are almost all of these women white? I just checked one of those Maxim lists, of the top fifty there were two black women, Rhianna and Beyonce. The reason white women are primarily cast in Hollywood is because foreign market sales of films are defined by stars, if you hire a 'B-list' star, you can sell the movie to foreign markets for more than if you cast a 'C-list' star. So then why are the biggest stars white? It's a cyclical issue, people want to see pretty white people, so Hollywood casts them, which increases the cultural demand for more pretty white people.

Much like your micro versus macro level comparison with racial attractiveness, no one film is responsible for the continued cycle, but the industry as a whole is. If it was your eighty million dollars, are you going to purposely hurt the sales of your film for moral reasons? Probably not, should the government step in and mandate you do? In my mind, certainly not, but that's up for debate.

I completely agree with all of this.

 

[Cagey]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a guy in a bar recently, which in turn reminds me of a lot of the responses in this thread. Basically went like this:

"I'm not really attracted to black girls, no offense. I tend to go for white and hispanic girls. I think some Asian girls are hot too. Heck, I guess if I meet a pretty black girl she could get it too."

And my response was basically, "...so, you're attracted to pretty girls, then?"

And he was visibly thrown off. I could tell that he was only just realizing how petty the distinction was that he had made when directly challenged on it. I feel this is true of a lot of people I have this discussion with, and a lot of posters in this thread. They rush to make a distinction that almost always completely falls apart when they're forced to confront it logically.

Within the context of that story, the guy at the bar could have the following mindset:
- Guy finds white/Hispanic girls more attractive
- Guy is more likely to find white/Hispanic girls attractive than other girls
- It takes a more attractive than normal black/Asian girl to register as attractive to the guy

In other words, if you're putting things on a number scale, what would objectively be an 8/10 black girl (polling a random sample of reasonable guys) may appear to be a 6 to him, and vice versa.

White dudes with Asian preferences do that all the time in the reverse.

I don't think it's a distinction that falls apart completely when confronted with logic. I think it's just not a hardfast rule without exceptions.

I think it's also silly, mind you.

 

[Mumei]

I ran across this today, while contemplating this issue. You may enjoy it, you may not.

INTERRACIAL DATING IN A “COLOR-BLIND” SOCIETY: ROMANTIC ATTRACTION
AND IDEOLOGIES AMONG COLLEGE MEN

It's a PDF.

Thanks!

I read the bit that you pasted into the quote box. If there is more to it than that which you find important, you should paste that as well. Expecting people to read entire articles you've cherry-picked to support your argument is asking a lot.

It might be asking a lot for you to read a sub-1000 word blog post, but it's not really unreasonable to expect that you read it before you commented on it.

I would venture a guess that your exposure to other races over time has a lot to do with you now finding black people attractive.

It has for me; I find (more) black men attractive than I did in the past. I think part of it is also the realization that I didn't and trying to think about why not.

Yea but is it "society" or simply how preferences have changed over time? Nature vs Nurture. Actually, explain what you mean by "society". Because that's the disconnect for me.

While there are almost surely some elements of attractiveness that are innate (for instance: facial symmetry), there are other elements which can vary from place to place and time to time. I read a book about Alexandre Dumas' father, General Alexandre Dumas recently that might be illustrative. General Dumas was the son of a French aristocrat and a Haitian slave, and in contemporary descriptions of his person and his appearance, the French writers described his appearance in glowing terms:

"Though Thomas-Alexandre was dark-skinned and clearly of African descent, his looks were not disparaged by his contemporaries; rather, they were admired and celebrated. "One of the handsomest men you could ever meet," a 1797 profile would declare, whose "interesting physiognomy is accompanied by a gentle and gracious manner." His dark - very dark" looks and non-European features were not taken as signs of primitive inferiority - as they would be in nearly every time and place over the next two hundred years - but rather as echoes of antiquity, when the great civilizations had been the melting pots of the ancient world. "His frizzy hair recalls the curls of the Greeks and Romans," the 1797 profile announced. In this period of neoclassicism, no compliment was higher.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you how remarkable it is to read about the son of an aristocrat and a Haitian slave who achieves the rank of General, in the army of a West European country, who had maintained perhaps the with tens of thousands of (mostly white) men under his command. As the 1797 profile puts it, "A negro's feats of courage are every bit as deserving of admiration as those of a native of the Old World. Indeed, who has a greater right to public respect than a man of color fighting for freedom after having experienced all the horrors of slavery?"

That profile and the attitudes it reflected took place in a particular time and place - the period between the beginning of the French Revolution and Napoleon's rise to power, and Napoleon's reinstatement of slavery in 1802. It makes sense that in that period of intense republican values and (male) egalitarianism that a black man would be celebrated in that way. In 1808, there was another profile of General Dumas. It covered the same famous exploits, the same military successes, identical down to syntax and wording. But all the references to repulican values, to slavery, to race had been expunged. Times had changed.

In less dramatic and politically fraught terms, I think the same thing happens everywhere. If you lived in some places, blackened teeth would be attractive. In other places, certain kinds of piercings are considered attractive, or filed teeth, or various accoutrements of all kinds, or being particularly fat or being particularly thin, or having different facial features. In our case, I think that facial features most commonly associated with white people are considered attractive, and when people say that they don't find X race attractive, they have in their head that ideal to which they are comparing a stereotyped image of whatever X is (and X is obviously going to come up short against that standard).

 

[Black-Wind]

Can you expound further on that? I admit I may just be playing devils advocate as someone who finds people of all ethnic backgrounds attractive. But I'm curious as to why you think it's yours or anybodies business why someone prefers one race or another?

I never said it was "my business". If someone goes around saying they have dat yellow fever they're sharing their "business" with others to comment on. To me there's a nice fat difference between preference and flat out fetishizing a group of people.

Normally "yellow fever" means this person is only into Asians and it's because of some generalization made about their culture or portrayal in the media. It's basically fetishizing someone because of racial or ethnic stereotypes (can be seen in many weeaboos or "Outakos" or how ever you spell it). Maybe the people here claiming to have "yellow fever" don't feel that strongly for it to the point of fetish and are just exaggerating (as many people on Gaf who claim to have a "fetish" do when they actually just mean "this thing turns me on"). But to me that terms means "fetishizing a group of people based on generalization and stereotyping because of what you have seen in media".

I once had a drunk white guy try to explain to me why Asian women are "the perfect women" ... and he pretty much listed off every Martial Arts movie trait of the submissive tiny lil woman serving the action guy tea.

Not really making anything "MY business" seeing as I don't really care what one person on this site likes more than any other. Just saying that if you're fetishizing a whole group of people maybe you might want to step back and look at why that's the case.

 

[Enzom21]

Really? Because I'm pretty sure you said he was somehow racist for saying that he didn't like dark skinned women and compared it to calling all black people stupid. You didn't specifically name him, but he certainly falls into the group of "People who aren't attracted to black women."

You need to improve your reading comprehension.

I have always been talking about all of the generalizations in this thread and I made that pretty clear. I never compared a poster not liking dark skinned women to all black people being stupid.

I wrote: "I don't find black people attractive" is exactly the same as "Black people are stupid" Saying "I don't find black people attractive" is a generalization because all black people don't have whatever feature you may find unattractive unless of course it's specifically the fact that they're black that's unattractive to you.

 

[OrangeJulius]

I never said it was "my business". If someone goes around saying they have dat yellow fever they're sharing their "business" with others to comment on. To me there's a nice fat difference between preference and flat out fetishizing a group of people.

Normally "yellow fever" means this person is only into Asians and it's because of some generalization made about their culture or portrayal in the media. It's basically fetishizing someone because of racial or ethnic stereotypes (can be seen in many weeaboos or "Outakos" or how ever you spell it). Maybe the people here claiming to have "yellow fever" don't feel that strongly for it to the point of fetish and are just exaggerating (as many people on Gaf who claim to have a "fetish" do when they actually just mean "this thing turns me on"). But to me that terms means "fetishizing a group of people based on generalization and stereotyping because of what you have seen in media".

I once had a drunk white guy try to explain to me why Asian women are "the perfect women" ... and he pretty much listed off every Martial Arts movie trait of the submissive tiny lil woman serving the action guy tea.

So he prefers submissive women and you don't. Again, it just seems silly to be angry over someones preference. I don't like submissive women myself, or submissive people in general. But I'm not going to deride someone who does. They can like what they want and dislike what they want.

Hence different strokes for different folks. I simply don't see the need for deep psychoanalysis and Freudian explanations for someone being attracted to what they are attracted too. Unless they are pedophiles or some such, but that is a whole other ball game.

 

[Madness]

The rate for interracial marriage for Asians actually has dropped in the US. I assume this in part due to increased immigration, a rising Chinese/Korean/Indian middle class, and rising economies of their mother countries.

So it's easier for Asians to find suitors within their own race, find someone that not only can meet their cultural requirements, but financial as well. Remember, a lot of the surveys on why white men are preferred over all others also takes into account many view them as being the most financially secure.