Poll: Is Not Dating a Certain Race Racist?

[Dominic Crossman]

"Happen to have" As in, race was not considered.

Yeah...no. You can't not consider race when saying that one race is unattractive.

"I don't like black hair"

*All black people become included in this catagory*

Suck on it.

Side note: the picture I picked however, may be unintentionally racist given the subject matter.

Mmm... hair dye?
Although, I do get what you're saying, my type is redheads, how many redhead non-white people are they naturally or otherwise. Having said that, the celebrity I find most attractive is mila kunis and at first sight she appears to be latina or mixed race (don't know if that is the case or not).
So in conclusion, preferring one race to another on sexual level = not racist
Saying all members of a race are unattractive suggests that a person is racist, even if it is to point where said person doesn't realise it themselves (i.e. subconsciously)

Edit: Gay/Bi/Straight people are biologically attracted to gender, I'm not sure if the same can said about race.

Also, though people deny it, even to themselves, racial prejudice happens all the time without us even realising. There is a psychological test in which test subjects of various races are shown pictures of men of various races and asked to associate a word from a choice of 5 to the men on screen. Regardless of the test subject's race they always associate a positive word with the picture, however 95% take longer to this with members of a different race then they do with their own. (I think this was on an episode of Lie to me come to think of it)

Anyway, sorry about the wall of text this just got me thinking.

 

[darkhallwaygames]

If this is racist then not being Bisexual is "sexist"

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Why would you even include a criteria like 'no blacks' on your preferences? I would find it prejudiced on the grounds that they are already convinced that a black person couldn't capture their fancy in any way shape or form.

I can't speak for everyone, but for me personally, I don't have a choice. I don't wake up and think to myself "I don't want to be attracted to black women". I just aren't. Same as I'm not attracted to men. I feel no sexual desire there. I just don't find the great majority of black women as sexually attractive to me. I don't know why, that's just the way I am.

 

[Something Amyss]

Hence the second half of my post about how it can be racist.

The problem being that it was racist, and the point you made about what it means was wrong. Therefore, the second part was irrelevant. I don't know what's hard to get here.

 

[Something Amyss]

I can't speak for everyone, but for me personally, I don't have a choice. I don't wake up and think to myself "I don't want to be attracted to black women". I just aren't. Same as I'm not attracted to men. I feel no sexual desire there. I just don't find the great majority of black women as sexually attractive to me. I don't know why, that's just the way I am.

Are you attracted explicitly to "anyone but a black girl?" See, I'd already guess not because you said most black women, not all black women. You aren't completely precluding them. The example given was.

There's a difference between standards of attraction and this rather particular exclusion.

I mean, most people are attracted to people who look sort of like them. I get it, it's normal. We have our own standards for beauty within our own communities.

Specifically saying you could go for anyone but a black girl certainly comes across as prejudicial.

I'm not immune. I have a tendency to prefer white people. The key here being "prefer." I also prefer redheads, but I'd find it particularly weird if someone said "I'd date anyone but a blonde girl."

 

[viking97]

Racist (adj): Based on race.

Yeah, it kinda does.

 

[Something Amyss]

Whatever you happen to like is just your preference and you have a right to prefer people of a certain race over another certain race, for example, I just so happen to find Japanese or Asian women more attractive than white women, I would date a white women if I liked them enough, but I just find asians more attractive for whatever reason, does that make me racist?

I really don't think so, its not like I have something against other races its just my own personal preference, sexual attraction is not something that people can control, even though many people pretend they can, you have a right to find someone more attractive then someone else at least most sane people do

(*cough* feminists aren't exactly intelligent *cough*

If you're talking rights, you also have the right to claim black people are inferior, homosexuals are going to Hell, and women should stay home and make babies. That doesn't mean those claims aren't racist, homophobic, and sexist respectively.

I mean, sure, it's his right to use whatever standards he wants in dating. but just because you have a right doesn't make it at all non-prejudicial/bigoted/whatever.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Maybe by the most sterile dictionary definition yeah it is, but it's not like you can really control what makes your dick happy.

Then again, if someone IS racist they probably wouldn't consider that race a pontential partner, but that's more of a "all squares are rectangles, not all rectangles are squares" kind of thing.

 

[Dethenger]

No, that's not racist. Different races have different features, different physical characteristics. Whether or not you find them attractive or not is just a matter of preference. Now, I mean someone could call you shallow--I wouldn't, I think that sexual attraction is a key component in a relationship--but racist? Nah.

 

[Agayek]

The problem being that it was racist, and the point you made about what it means was wrong. Therefore, the second part was irrelevant. I don't know what's hard to get here.

My entire point is that, on its own, it's not necessarily racist.

It certainly can be motivated by racism, there's absolutely no question about that, but that doesn't automatically mean that it is. It can just as easily be fueled by a lack of attraction to the physical features people of a certain ancestry tend to share (for example, one can just find dark (or light) skin sexually unappealing). That's no more racist than finding short people unattractive, or big hands, or whatever other physical feature you care to name.

Now, like I've said repeatedly, such desires can be ultimately driven by some degree of racism. There's just not enough information to judge that, going purely by the statement "I don't find blacks attractive". It's a blanket, sweeping generalization to be sure, but only the most literal idiots are going to take it as an absolute in-every-case statement.

 

[Something Amyss]

My entire point is that, on its own, it's not necessarily racist.

My entire point is that, within this context, you're wrong.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

snip

There are some black women I find myself attracted to, but they are rare. My standards for the physical aspect of black women are much, much higher than any other race. So yeah, I guess I am racist. But you know what? You can try and make me feel like scum as much as you want, it won't work. I will never equalise a preference of sexual attraction to hatred or a sense of superiority.

 

[Adamantium93]

If I'm not attracted to someone, I'm not dating them. I don't think that makes me racist, but even if it does there is nothing I can do about it. Its just the way my body acts.

 

[Adamantium93]

If I'm not attracted to someone, I'm not dating them. I don't think that makes me racist, but even if it does there is nothing I can do about it. Its just the way my body acts.

Your body doesn't decide who you go out with. Your brain does. So there is something you can do about it- you can go on the date.

Now mind, I'm not saying you should go on a date with people you're not attracted to. Just that the host of people in this thread trying to paint their (potentially subconsciously) learned racial preferences as involuntary aren't really addressing this accurately.

Except that your body does decide who you date. Granted, the brain has input, but in order for any relationship to be successful, there has to be a component of sexual attraction. People who I really like as people but am not physically attracted to? They're friends.

I don't walk around looking at women going "Oh, she's white, going to bang her" or "Oh, she's black, not wasting my time". I get to know people and if I find that I like someone's personality AND find them sexually attractive, I consider asking them out. Over time I've noticed that I have never found a black woman attractive. Never. It just hasn't happened. I may think they look pretty in the same way that I can tell when a guy is looking handsome but it just doesn't do it for me. Maybe someday I will find an exception to this trend but so far I haven't.

This isn't technically:

Racism: the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races

or

Prejudice: a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

Its simply a matter of what my body responds to.

 

[Soundwave]

Yes it's racist.

No, it's not universally racist. The reasons for why a person says "no blacks" matter. If they're not attracted to black women as a general rule, that's very different than saying that they don't want to date black women because of some racist stereotype.

Yes people who think it's clever to compare gender, only finding one gender date-able is sexist.

Except it's not, by any definition of the word. Again, reasons matter. If you're not biologically attracted to women, you're not sexist for feeling that way.

Both sexism and racism very clearly state in their definitions that they are based upon beliefs and actions, which means they require a conscious mental decision to carry out. Your body's selection of physical attractions are not conscious mental decisions, they are biological activities controlled by your genes and triggered by hormones.

Sexism and racism are defined based on your actions and the way you think, NOT your biology. It is not sexism or racism to have preferences in what you find attractive. What IS sexist/racist is to consciously choose not to pursue potential mates that you may find attractive simply because of their gender or race.

People really need to learn the definitions of words before slinging them around.

People aren't arbitrarily not attracted to individuals of a specific race "as a general rule" without some (though they might be unaware of it) inherent racism. People are unintentionally racist all the time. Just because you don't know better doesn't mean it isn't racist.

It also doesn't mean that people who are unintentionally racist at times (as almost everyone is guilty of at least some) aren't worthy of tolerance (which I'll grant is a tangent, but I know somebody will try to make that point at me and I'm just being pro-active).

 

[Silkavenger]

Any decision based purely on race is by definition racist.

The fellow's original statement was that "(he would) date any race but 'black girls'".

The tactic many posters here are taking to defend this statement is to equate 'skin color' with 'physical attractiveness'. This is pure intellectual dishonesty. While skin tone may at a part in physical attraction, I do not believe for a moment that it can trump all other physical qualities. Posters who would defend the above quote as not racially motivated, would you defend any of the following statements?

1. All black women are ugly. All of them.

2. The ugliest white woman in the world is still more physically attractive than the most beautiful black woman.

If you feel these statements are racist, then you do not actually believe that attractiveness can be determined by skin color alone. The only thing that can be determined by skin color and zero additional information is race. If you make decisions based on race alone, you are to some degree racist. I'm not going to suggest that you should feel bad about that, but you should at least be honest with yourself about it.

Remember, it's the difference between saying "I've not yet personally met a black woman who I've wanted to date," or saying "I would never date any black woman ever, even without seeing them, and regardless of any other information about their likes, dislikes and behavior." The guy in the OP's statement is semantically identical to the latter of the two. Think about it.

 

[Demongeneral109]

It's not a choice made based on race. That race just happens to have physical features he(hypothetical dude) finds displeasing.

I'm going to leave this quote here, so you can read it as many times as you like, until you find the logical phallacy hidden in it.
Hint: it's between "it's not a choice based on race" and "that race has displeasing physical features".

If you remove a conditional, the context of words tend to change.

"Happen to have" As in, race was not considered.

Dude, you said it's not a "race thing", but it's a "physical feature associated with race thing", which makes it a race thing.

Not if said physical feature exists independent of said race.

Dude, you just said "That race just happens to have physical features he(hypothetical dude) finds displeasing".

Lets give the beneficent of the doubt and assume he's generalizing(not racist really.) Some Ethnicities are more prone to certain physical characteristics, which an individual may not find attractive. As long as things are taken by a case on case basis, generalizing and stereotyping, while admittedly not the best thing to do, isn't inherently racist. So he could, as a totally hypothetical example, not be fond of coarse hair. If this trait is predominant among black women, its not racist to say that he doesn't find black women attractive... but again, case by case basis. Im willing to say that its only racist with malicious intent, otherwise its stereotyping.