Is this racist, does my teacher have a right to punish me for this?

[Fearzone]

This is your fault for taking a psychology course. What were you thinking?

Anyway, tell your psychology teacher that racism is NOT about who we preferentially choose as friends or lovers, but an imbalance of power between different ethnic groups and using the greater power of one group to diminish the opportunities of the other. Maybe you can use this essay to educate her on this point.

 

[wax88]

total B.S, this is by far anything but racist but i guess you already know that. Ok, here's an idea, ask her(im assuming it's a her here) what her own preferences are. Because then we can do to her what she did for you, take those preferences , turn it around and basically use that to show that she's a bigot. Bound to happen, since our preferences cannot realistically accomodate every one on earth -like com'on.

Basically, she's a hypocrite. oh and i was just kidding- dont be trolling ur teacher, just report her through the proper channels to sort her out.

Also, appears that she's over-sensitive to race. Is she from an ethic minority or something? As in im thinking that she's actually very self-conscious of her race or something, and is probably overly concerned abt this issue. Maybe a bad experience in the past? like a guy who rejected her due to spposedly her skin colour? (although that might actually be the excuse she gave herself, given how self-delusional people are, often chosing to blame on things they cannot control such as race as opposed to things that they can, such as their personality-that way they feel less guilty abt what happened, and they can convince themselves that it wasn't their fault.)

So im wondering: what is her Race, age(approx), and social background (midddle-class upbringing?).

 

[Jodah]

Assuming what you said is the 100% truth (and not the truth as you saw it) then no, it was not racist and you shouldn't be punished. It was a discussion about personal preference.

 

[Dannyx]

The UN does not define "racism", however it does define "racial discrimination": According to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,

the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.[11]

Straight off Wikipedia, even though it's not always seen as reliable source it has some nice information on it. So based on this it says, unless you're doing something that takes away or obstructs the human rights and fundamental freedoms, you're not doing any racial discrimination/racism.

Since personal preferences for what you like/don't like are not included in neither fundamental freedoms nor human rights, I can conclude that, you sir, are not a racist.

 

[Virmire]

Teacher is wrong. She asked what you find attractive, you told her.
I'm not attracted to obease people, but I'm not prejudice towards them!

I say bring it up with a parent or another teacher/principal. What she is doing is unfounded.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Daft thing also is, many people have this list of preferences, but the whole damn thing can go out of the window when you find that special someone who doesn't fit a single thing on the list. (Ok, except gender).

Would be rather hilarious if you found yourself falling in love with a black woman and your teacher had to deal with your opinion that, in general, you dont find dark skin attractive, but, sometimes love overrides meaningless physical properties.

Hell, I'm a fat guy, and I understand that 'lardass' doesn't come very high on most women's 'must have' statistics on a potential life partner. doesn't make em discriminating against fat people, it's just a choice.

I do however encourage mixed race mating, the sooner the whole world is the same tedious shade of beige, the quicker we can move on to hating other people for an entirely new pointless reason.

 

[Death God]

It isn't really racist. I mean, unless you got really deep into, it should have been over looked. I personally prefer an average white female but it doesn't mean I wouldn't date an asian girl or a hispanic girl, it just isn't my top preference.

 

[SmileyBat]

We were discussing attraction in psychology today and we did a worksheet, one of the questions being about what we find attractive in the opposite sex. When it got to which physical characteristics we find most attractive, I listed:

somewhat tall
healthy-looking, ie in good shape but not too skinny
dark hair
white skin

and some other things, but that last one was what got me in trouble. Now, at no point did I say I find other skin colors unattractive, and I did not say that I find colored people unattractive, just for their skin color. All I said was that it was one of many physical characteristics (saying nothing of personality and intellectual traits) that I find attractive. And also, it's not like I'd turn down a girl just because of her skin color, to me it's just one trait that I notice, and there are many more (saying nothing of intellectual and personality traits). To me, dating a black or asian girl would be no different than dating a blonde, yes I prefer dark to blonde hair but I can still find her attractive and nice (hopefully). I thought I was being honest about a personal opinion in a mature discussion about a mature topic.

In short, it's no different than my finding dark brown hair more attractive than light blonde hair. It's only a superficial thing.

Anyway, she didn't even give me a chance to explain what I meant by that, and wouldn't hear a word of it when I tried. Now I have to write a paper about racial tolerance. Is this right? Am I a racist, just for finding one skin color more physically appealing than the others?

EDIT/UPDATE: Okay, so the term 'colored people' comes off as racist. Just a poor choice of words on my part, sorry. I'd actually been told it was the politically correct term.

Absolutely not. It's certainly no more racist than saying Latinas or Asians are your thing, and it's typically short-sighted of your school system to rule against you on this one. All I can say is chin up and write the paper, but stand your ground to anyone that tries to tell you off because of this.

 

[yman15]

Yah I don't think its racist for reasons already stated. Especially since it looks like you'd date a person more based of their personality than their looks. I'm black and I'm not offended at all I really don't see what the big deal is about this.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

It doesn't really help combat the view that psychology isn't a proper science if you have to dance around the possibility that there might be some inherent racial bias. Pretending that raw data doesn't exist is poor form.

Who cares if your boner is a little racist, anyway? It's not the same as hating people.

 

[aba1]

Spoiler: Ill just start with this

"You know what? A society where anyone can make jokes about anyone else and everyone laughs is a truly tolerant society. Political correctness charged censorship only services to engender distance between social groups."
-Ben Croshaw

Include that in your paper. In fact, make it a paper about why trying to force everyone to be PC is just as bad as racism.

First of all, it is in our genetic code to be racist at least for reproductive reason. Second of all, your teacher is blowing this out of proportion. Third, racism is by definition only with malicious intent. I.e. punching a guy because he is white, not hiring a guy because he is Asian, etc. Why am I (you or anyone else) a bad person if I don't want to have sex with someone outside my race? Especially if I can treat them just like everyone else.

p.s. Moral of the story: 100% honesty screws you over in the adult world.

I thought racism was treating someone different based on race. I just checked my dictionary wigit and according to oxford it is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race , especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

so it is not racist to be sexually attracted to a certain race more than another because it's based on looks alone and if races didn't have a different look then well they wouldn't exist because everyone would look the same. I think sexual appeal is one of those few times its ok to like one race over another. Sexual attraction is a very primal thing to begin with I remember learning people tend to be attracted to whats familiar so most people tend to go for others with characteristics they share hence why you will notice most couples tend to consist of 2 people of the same race more often than 2 people of different races. Mind you that is not 100% accurate it is just something that tends to be true more than it isn't for example it does not apply to me as I am what they are calling ginger these days and my fiance is Asian and I tend to be into Asian girls more than most other ethnicity's from a sexual standpoint.

 

[floppylobster]

You know if you're racist or not. And I suspect you are not. If anything they could call you ignorant, but that does not make you racist. (And in the example you gave they shouldn't even be able to call you that. How did they know you didn't mean pale skin?).

Furthermore, she asked, you told. For it to be in any way racist you'd have to have gone around telling people that white skin is better. She asked a personal question and got an honest answer. I would write your paper in the intolerance she is showing you but that wouldn't achieve much. Just do it safe in the knowledge that you know you're not racist and some people are so insecure that they must interpret harmless opinions as racial intolerance.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Just asking the question can be perceived as being invasive, not liking your answers is a major no-no and quite unprofessional.

All sorts of things come up in, say, seminars, where professionals sharpen their skills, learn the basics or new fancy tricks of the trade, and everyone can "have a go" at role-playing the professional most of them will eventually become or playing the part of the patient/testee/subject.

My stance would be this: Your teacher should not ask questions like this outside an exclusively-professional or therapeutical setting, because it heavily invades privacy and it's basically none of her business. If it really is acceptable within the bounds of her classes, it's still invasive, and it cannot possibly be her job to judge your aesthetic or even sexual preference. Her focus seems to be a bit off. What was the purpose of it all?

It's overstepping in a bad way and it's just plain wrong. It opposes everything I know about school and it isn't handling the art and science of psychology properly. If the extra task of having to write a paper on racial tolerance is part of her course, splendid. Your teacher is obviously intolerant of your most personal - sexual - preferences and wrongfully (publicly?) labelled you a racist. Not exactly the way to go. If you're not leaving out anything important I think she's way out of line.

 

[Hollock]

She shouldn't have asked if she wasn't ready to hear the an answer like that (i.e a simple, common answer)

 

[Kermi]

What if I say I prefer lightly tanned skin? Am I racist for disliking white people, racist for not liking 'em dark enough? Am I racist 'cause I gots the yellow fever?

That's my fucking business.

 

[Vivi22]

Now I have to write a paper about racial tolerance. Is this right? Am I a racist, just for finding one skin color more physically appealing than the others?

No, having to write a paper on racial tolerance is not right given what you said wasn't even remotely racist. If someone is going to ask what you find attractive in the opposite sex, that is totally out of your control. It's not like you just decided you hate black people so you'll only be attracted to white women or something (which I guess someone could do, but that's not really what we're getting at). Hell, I tend to find caucasian women more attractive on average. It's not because I'm racist though, I just happen to be white and grew up in places where the population was also predominantly white. But I've still met/seen women of pretty much every conceivable race that I found attractive, and it's not like skin colour would be a deal breaker or anything.

Frankly, if a teacher gave me a load of crap like that and told me to write a paper as they did to you, I'd tell her to fuck off. Maybe a little more diplomatically than that, but damned if I'd be punished for something I didn't even do.