Posted: Wed 22 Apr 2009 19:56 Post subject: Study finds racial stereotypes in Internet dating
Quote:
April 22, 2009
Study finds racial stereotypes in Internet dating
Submitted by UC Irvine
Internet daters tend to observe racial stereotypes when seeking a mate, a UC Irvine study shows.
By analyzing Yahoo personals, researchers found that white men prefer Asian and Latino women to African American women as dating partners, and white women favor African American and Latino men over Asian men.
Asians, African Americans and Latinos were more likely to include white people as possible dates than white people were to include them - suggesting that white people, as the dominant racial group in the U.S., hold the power when it comes to interracial dating.
The study analyzed profiles of people ages 18-50 in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Atlanta between September 2004 and May 2005.
According to researcher Cynthia Feliciano, negative portrayals of African American women and Asian men on TV and in movies and music may contribute to the preferences found.
"Stereotypical images of masculinity and femininity shape dating choices and continue to be perpetuated in the mass media," said Feliciano, UCI assistant professor of sociology and Chicano/Latino studies. "The hyper-feminine image of Asian American women contrasts greatly with the image of Asian men, who are often portrayed as asexual."
In comparison, the image of the strong African American woman is at odds with idealized notions of submissive and frail women. This may explain why African American women faced high levels of rejection among men, researchers said.
"Cultural portrayals of African American women in the media continue to stress traits seen as negative, such as bossiness," Feliciano said.
Though studies show racial attitudes have become increasingly tolerant and interracial marriage is no longer taboo, relatively low intermarriage rates do not reflect these trends, she said.
"Internet dating offers a unique lens through which to understand the process of selecting a partner and how race plays into that selection,"
Feliciano said.
UCI sociology associate professor Belinda Robnett and graduate student Golnaz Komaie also contributed to the study, which appears online in the March issue of the journal Social Science Research.
Internet daters tend to observe racial stereotypes when seeking a mate, a UC Irvine study shows.
By analyzing Yahoo personals, researchers found that white men prefer Asian and Latino women to African American women as dating partners, and white women favor African American and Latino men over Asian men.
Asians, African Americans and Latinos were more likely to include white people as possible dates than white people were to include them - suggesting that white people, as the dominant racial group in the U.S., hold the power when it comes to interracial dating.
Well, it suggests all sorts of things not just that white people hold the "power" when it comes to interracial dating.
And what is the breakdown by gender? Are Asian, African American and Latino men more likely to include white people than women from the same groups?
Are African American women more likely to exlcude non-black men than black men non-black women?
What percentage of non-Asian women were willing to include Asian men as possible dates? What is the racial breakdown? I'd bet Asian women are more likely to be chosen as interacial dates than Asian men.
And there are these often repeated claims:
Quote:
"Stereotypical images of masculinity and femininity shape dating choices and continue to be perpetuated in the mass media," said Feliciano, UCI assistant professor of sociology and Chicano/Latino studies. "The hyper-feminine image of Asian American women contrasts greatly with the image of Asian men, who are often portrayed as asexual."
The uncomfortable fact is that in comparison with men of other ancestral backgrounds Asian men on average are shorter and smaller in stature, and therefore appear less masculine to many non-Asian women. Similar traits in Asian women actually benefit them in the competitive interracial dating scene.
Quote:
In comparison, the image of the strong African American woman is at odds with idealized notions of submissive and frail women. This may explain why African American women faced high levels of rejection among men, researchers said.
"Cultural portrayals of African American women in the media continue to stress traits seen as negative, such as bossiness," Feliciano said.
Or quite possibly non-black men find black women less attractive than women of other ancestral backgrounds or their own. Or maybe they know that black women are not enthused about dating non-black men and so they don't have black women as a potential choice.
Men in the dating game are primarily attracted to physical appearance as opposed to idealized notions of the submissive and frail women. Also, black women currently are portrayed in our media in a variety of ways, not primarily or exclusively as bossy. So this isn't an acceptable explanation IMO.
When it's all said and done, people usually search within their own race or ethnic group when seeking long term relationships. The article does't address this, but I'd assume that the researchers found that people were more likely to prefer their own race than other races. This isn't apparent because the focus of the article and the study is on attraction to other races.
Related to this is an article from "The New York Times" by John Tierney about speed dating sessions at Columbia University:
By John Tierney
Readers responded to my last post with lots of theories and personal reports on people’s preferences in interracial dating. Also some complaints that I seemed to be asking for comments about only whites and blacks — an impression I didn’t mean to give. Researchers have been studying other races, too. They’ve found that theories and anecdotal evidence aren’t a very reliable guide to these questions: some of the common stereotypes don’t match the data.
Some of you did get it right, like Dan, who hypothesized that Asians are relatively more willing to date outside their race. David predicted that black men are more likely to date white women than white men are to date black women — which is right, although not for the reason many people think. It’s not that white men are more reluctant to date non-whites; it’s that black women are less willing to date someone of another race.
At least that’s the picture that emerges from studies of online daters and speed daters. Men are generally willing to date someone of another race, but women are more reluctant, especially African-American women.
Consider “Racial Preferences in Dating,” a study of more than 400 graduate and professional students who participated in speed dating sessions at Columbia University organized by Raymond Fisman, Sheena S. Iyengar, Emir Kamenica and Itamar Simonson. The researchers conclude: “Even in a population of relatively progressive individuals who have self-selected into participation in a multi-cultural Speed Dating event, we observe strong racial preferences.”
There’s also a clear gender divide, as the researchers note: “Women of all races exhibit strong same race preferences, while men of no race exhibit a statistically significant same race preference.” You might think the gender gap is the result of different dating goals: perhaps the men are more interested in short-term flings, whereas the women are looking for a lasting relationship and are concerned about potential complications from cultural differences. But the researchers conclude otherwise after looking at the data:
“Since older subjects (who are more likely to attend the Speed Dating sessions in hope of starting a serious relationship) have a weaker same race preference, this gender difference is unlikely to result from differential dating goals between men and women.”
The researchers found that most women speed daters said yes (meaning they’d like to see a man again after the four-minute speed date) less often to men of another race than they did to men of their own race. Here’s how much less interested they were in the other races, as compared with their enthusiasm for men of their own race:
African-American women said yes about 30 percent less often to Hispanic men; about 45 percent less often to white men; about 65 percent less often to Asian men.
White women said yes about 30 percent less often to black or Hispanic men, and about 65 percent less often to Asian men.
Hispanic women said yes about 20 percent less often to black or white men, and 50 percent less often to Asian men.
Asian women didn’t discriminate much by race (except for showing a very slight preference for Asian men over black or Hispanic men).
After noting who said yes to whom, the researchers analyzed a confounding factor: the men’s physical attractiveness. They found that the women of different races generally agreed with one another in rating the various men’s attractiveness — and that they were less willing to date a man of another race even when he was just as attractive as a man of their own race. When the researchers controlled for the men’s attractiveness, they found that white, Hispanic and Asian women generally showed about the same level of same-race preference, while black women showed a significantly higher preference.
These results from the speed dating experiment roughly jibe with the study I cited in the earlier post about height-income tradeoffs. In that analysis of more than 20,000 online daters, split roughly evenly between Boston and San Diego, men didn’t show much preference for same-race partners. Women did, and African-American women showed the most pronounced preference.
The researchers, after controlling for all other attributes (height, weight, attractiveness, etc.), calculated how much extra income (relative to the income of the average online male dater, $62,500) a man would need to overcome the racial barrier. Here are some of the estimates (there weren’t enough data to do all the interracial permutations) of how much each extra income a man would need to be equally appealing to a woman as would a man of her own race:
For equal success with an African-American woman, a Hispanic man needs to earn an extra $184,000; a white man needs to earn an additional $220,000.
For equal success with a white woman, an African-American needs to earn an additional $154,000; a Hispanic man needs $77,000; an Asian needs $247,000.
For equal success with a Hispanic woman, an African-American man needs to earn an additional $30,000; a white man needs to earn an additional $59,000.
For equal success with an Asian woman, an African-American needs no additional income; a white man needs $24,000 less than average; a Hispanic man needs $28,000 more than average.
I’ll leave you with two questions: Why do women have these preferences? And what might prompt them to pay less attention to a man’s race?
Joined: 02 May 2006 {Posts: 443 } Location: le-de-France
Posted: Thu 23 Apr 2009 17:33 Post subject:
Quote:
The uncomfortable fact is that in comparison with men of other ancestral backgrounds Asian men on average are shorter and smaller in stature, and therefore appear less masculine to many non-Asian women.
I really think it is just a stereotype and not the height. The average height in urban China and South Korea is taller than that of almost every Latin American country, yet what is the stereotype of the Latin man? Usually macho or Latin lover, or both. I honestly think that the stereotype that hurts Asian men most is that they are "emotionless."
Joined: 07 Feb 2007 {Posts: 1829 } Location: Lookin DC Metro, Feelin Geneva
Posted: Thu 23 Apr 2009 20:07 Post subject:
I think there is stereotyping in any dating, especially in regard to race in America, and I think this might vary according to age and experience...there are always looking to fulfill some exotic fetish or avoid a potential negative stereotype.
For instance, black men who don't want a "bossy black women" or white men looking for a more submissive Asian women, or white women looking for a "true thug"...or a "Rico Suave"
I read an article like this several days ago. One thing that jumped out at me was that the article said only 4% of Whites in the US were married interracial. Interracial dating sites aren't really a barometer of US culture. The people are basically saying which men or women they generally find 'somewhat attractive'. Then being compatible with the people you find 'hot' is another story!
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