I was on a feminist website recently and came across a post that blasted some white guy's website devoted to finding him the perfect girl. They took issue with his high standards on appearrance and education, which really doesn't seem like something big enough to warrant public shaming by a large website such as this one, but I could understand their distaste, if not their blazing ire. One thing they said, however, really got under my skin: he said he would date any race but "Black girls." And they called him a racist for that.
Now, he allegedly has said elsewhere on his site or on Reddit things that paint him to be a dyed-in-the-wool racist, but the mere proclamation of this preference was enough to get him the label on this site (I'm not linking to it because it's not really the point of the discussion I want to start here). So my question is: Does not wanting to date people from a certain race or races make you racist?
I think not. No one would come after you with pitchforks and torches if you said you didn't date blonde girls, and, while it won't win you more friends than it'll lose, you can also say things like, "She has to have a college degree," or, "She has to have a job," without drawing too much venom. So why shouldn't a person have a particular preference for skin color? And not only that, but most everyone (especially, one would think, a self-identified feminist) would agree that the different races of the country have different cultures. Obviously, you can find someone who, let's say, loves country music or likes anime among any race, but perhaps you simply aren't attracted to certain racial aspects, or maybe just don't want to deal with any potential headaches others will give you for dating outside your race?
In the end, I think it's stupid to call someone a racist if he or she doesn't have anything bad to say about a race, just finds other races more physically attractive. Maybe it's an area of growth, maybe not. Maybe it's as innocuous as a male wanting to only pursue romance with females. What do you think?
I hope I've communicated my thoughts in such a way that no one picks up a racist vibe from these words themselves. It's not my intention to denigrate any race with this question.
EDIT: Well, the poll is being annoying and won't work right, but you should be able to make out the "yes" and "no" categories.
Now, he allegedly has said elsewhere on his site or on Reddit things that paint him to be a dyed-in-the-wool racist, but the mere proclamation of this preference was enough to get him the label on this site (I'm not linking to it because it's not really the point of the discussion I want to start here). So my question is: Does not wanting to date people from a certain race or races make you racist?
I think not. No one would come after you with pitchforks and torches if you said you didn't date blonde girls, and, while it won't win you more friends than it'll lose, you can also say things like, "She has to have a college degree," or, "She has to have a job," without drawing too much venom. So why shouldn't a person have a particular preference for skin color? And not only that, but most everyone (especially, one would think, a self-identified feminist) would agree that the different races of the country have different cultures. Obviously, you can find someone who, let's say, loves country music or likes anime among any race, but perhaps you simply aren't attracted to certain racial aspects, or maybe just don't want to deal with any potential headaches others will give you for dating outside your race?
In the end, I think it's stupid to call someone a racist if he or she doesn't have anything bad to say about a race, just finds other races more physically attractive. Maybe it's an area of growth, maybe not. Maybe it's as innocuous as a male wanting to only pursue romance with females. What do you think?
I hope I've communicated my thoughts in such a way that no one picks up a racist vibe from these words themselves. It's not my intention to denigrate any race with this question.
EDIT: Well, the poll is being annoying and won't work right, but you should be able to make out the "yes" and "no" categories.
