Wapo Date Lab: Daters say they don’t tolerate racial bias. Their actions say otherwise

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I never dated anyone blonde. Does that make me biased against Scandinavians?


It does. But bias isn’t inherently bad. Nor is discrimination. When you choose a side salad instead of fries, you are discriminating against the fries. So what?
Anonymous
The preference may be as a result of bias, but at the end of the day, if the person is not open to dating people of other races, it would waste the time of those other people to try to match with them.
Anonymous
Divorced white baby boomer here, who never dates white women. I was dating African-American women, but have had to stop because of the recent unpleasantness.
Anonymous
I don't like curly or wavy hair on women. It has to be completely straight. This goes regardless of race. I also don't like blondes. I actually like darker skin but if the person is black then totally straight hair goes out the window. There are tons of hot black women who straighten their hair. Would I date one? Absolutely. But then I'd be called racist for not liking "natural hair." But I wouldn't date a curly haired white woman unless she straightened her hair either! Why is everything always about race.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sorry, attraction is hard wired. It's rediculous to say I am racist for being attracted to certain races as it is to say I am only attracted to people who are in shape, or to full hair vs bald, large vs small cheated women, fat vs thin. Gay people are born this way, as it is for body features which includes skin tone.


This. You literally do not choose who you are attracted to.


You are socialized to prefer one skin color over another.


Wrong. Are you socialized to prefer thin people? No, it's evolutionary.


It most certainly isn’t. Have you never been to an art museum? Body shape preferences fluctuate.
Anonymous
PP again. I also notice this in on-line dating. I get bombarded with likes and messages from 50s-60s white women whose profiles are full of virtue signalling about BLM, etc. But they are messaging me, not the thousands of black men who are on the same dating site.
Anonymous
Sorry, attraction is hard wired.


Racism is hard-wired too, but that’s not holding anyone back from thinking we can eliminate it with some protests, kneeling, and activist-led Struggle Sessions.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sorry, attraction is hard wired. It's rediculous to say I am racist for being attracted to certain races as it is to say I am only attracted to people who are in shape, or to full hair vs bald, large vs small cheated women, fat vs thin. Gay people are born this way, as it is for body features which includes skin tone.


This. You literally do not choose who you are attracted to.


You are socialized to prefer one skin color over another.


Wrong. Are you socialized to prefer thin people? No, it's evolutionary.


It most certainly isn’t. Have you never been to an art museum? Body shape preferences fluctuate.


Yes, but the preferences are still evolved in the sense that indicators of fitness of the mate are an evolved preference. Back when food was scarce, being a little chubby could be an indicator of fitness. But today with plentiful food, taking care of yourself, having time to workout and the ability and willingness to maintain health is an indicator of fitness of the mate.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sorry, attraction is hard wired. It's rediculous to say I am racist for being attracted to certain races as it is to say I am only attracted to people who are in shape, or to full hair vs bald, large vs small cheated women, fat vs thin. Gay people are born this way, as it is for body features which includes skin tone.


This. You literally do not choose who you are attracted to.


You are socialized to prefer one skin color over another.


Wrong. Are you socialized to prefer thin people? No, it's evolutionary.


It most certainly isn’t. Have you never been to an art museum? Body shape preferences fluctuate.


The preference is for a well-off mate. At one time, rich mates were fat because most of the population was starving. Today, poor people are fat, and only the rich can afford the diet and exercise to be thin. This is exaggerated with women, who need even more resources to maintain a thin body.

Race can also proxy (poorly) a well-off versus poor mate.
Anonymous
Both things can be true at the same time. Sometimes, it is bias. For example, I can't find people of x-racial background who are also interested in y activity when in reality, that's not the case. In those types of situation it's just excuse. Sometimes, it is simply attraction. At the end of day, dating and attraction are such individual personal things. Some people are more strongly attracted (or not) to people who have certain features or coloring.



Anonymous
This is ridiculous because people shouldn’t be forced to date people they don’t find attractive.

I’m also a person who hates curly hair. I have straight hair even if the man is white blonde, if he has curly hair it’s a turn off. I’m Hispanic and was around latins my whole life.

It’s a slippery slope to say this and then start to require laws who we are allowed to date. Oh who says we are making laws-what the heck is is this study about? racial bias in the dating world. OK so what. That’s happens to every race. Why do white men not go for their own buy for Asians woman? If I discriminate on a man who is short, again so what, we like what we like. The brain and sexual organs cannot be bias free. It will never end this line of thinking.
Anonymous
I cant understand people who say I am not attracted to X people. I can find beautiful, attractive, smart people in any city, any country with any background. There are really hot black men, white men, asian med, indian men, russian men, eastern european mean, south american men, central american man, african men, tall men, short men, muscular men, etc. I do have a type but I dont limit myself. There have been men that I wasnt very attracted to look-wise but their minds/personality was amazing and vice versa.

So for the people who say you are hard-wired to be attracted to a certain demographic, what do you make of those of us like me?

""What we see as attractive is a byproduct of not only our biological wiring, but is also influenced by socio-cultural factors," says David Sarwerof the Center for Human Appearance at the University of Pennsylvania.Although individual differences in what we consider attractive "are not well-understood," Sarwer says, we are shaped by "what we learn from our parents and peers as well as what we see in the mass media."
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Divorced white baby boomer here, who never dates white women. I was dating African-American women, but have had to stop because of the recent unpleasantness.


Troll.

I see plenty of interracial couples at protests.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. I have been friends with men of all shapes and colors, but I am not physically attracted to all shapes and colors. I am not physically attracted to blondes (Brad Pitt does nothing for me) and I am not physically attracted to black men either. This does not mean that I think many blond and black men are not objectively attractive, I am just not personally attracted to them. And the author explains this is all because of my "unconscious bias." Really tired of all of these articles trying to make a case of racism out of everything.


And yet, you probably vote for Democrats who encourage this line of thinking


Because over the top anti-racism like Democrats display is merely silly, whereas over the top racism like the Republicans display is morally corrupt and lethal.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:This article is ridiculous. It told me that there is actually more racial bias in dating preference from one race, but then stated a bunch of excuses for that and turned around and lectured another race.

And also, part of what is maddening about this current time is that this country is not only black and white! I swear, you would think only two races exist in the United States.


Date Lab is local. The local population here is mostly white and black. Hispanic/Latinx isn’t a race so you can discount that as applicable to this article. Asians are a growing group here, but interracial dating between Asians and other races is much rarer here than in the West Coast. My friends who live in CA know far more white man-Asian woman couples than white man-black woman.
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