Interracial marriage only works as a "solution" if there were an inverse imbalance in other racial communities to supply the men needed to fulfil the shortfall.
It also completely ignores the fact that people in the black communities may not wish to date people from other races. it isn't a breading farm after all, people's choices matter a lot. If black woman want to date a black man, that is completely normal/understandable/a valid choice.
> Interracial marriage only works as a "solution" if there were an inverse imbalance in other racial communities to supply the men needed to fulfil the shortfall.
"Asian women had white husbands 3.08 times more often than Asian men had white wives. [...] Oddly enough, the 1990 ratios for black-white and white-Asian marriages were mirror images of each other."
You are starting from the assumption that it is normal that people date inside of their "race". This is an assumption that is very often made by Hollywood movies and which I find offensive, all the more because it is self-fulfilling: if you only see people of the same skin color dating one another, you're probably less likely to imagine yourself outside of the norm you perceive.
The stats back up that people prefer to date within their own race when they can. Ultimately I am just arguing that people's choice is important to the whole topic, if black women would prefer to date black men, pointing out that they could date white or asian men won't help the situation.
Actually you are wrong in this specific case. Okcupid has the data (http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-...) which shows that black women are more likely to reply to men now of her own race (and white men are almost at the top).
> The stats back up that people prefer to date within their own race when they can.
That's exactly what your data shows. If you look across all races, there is a clear bias towards people dating their own race. You can find exceptions, but those are within one or two data points, and the trend overall remains true.
> which shows that black women are more likely to reply to men now of her own race (and white men are almost at the top).
By just 2 points. And black men prefer black women. You did find an exception, but keep looking and the trend maintains.
Also, quick reminder that my original post focused on personal choice being important. Nobody suggesting forcing people to date a certain race, just that personal choice might get in the way of the "solution" to the problem the OP suggested (inter-racial marriage).
>The theory of African American alienation is upheld, as African Americans are generally less willing to interracially date than other races and are especially less willing to date European Americans.
Problems with that paper. If OKCupid addressed these in their data set, the didn't say.
1. OKCupid is a worldwide site but they don't say whether they're correcting for that by limiting to the USA
2. They don't say anything about correcting for regional differences.
3. They say nothing about the message rates. What percentage of a black woman's incoming mail is from white men? If it's some small percentage, can one discount the novelty effect?
4. They don't correct for income. Since in the US, black men have the lowest income of any group, it's much more likely that a given the choice between a black man and a white man, the white man will have the higher income.
5. Likewise for education level of the sender.
6. Likewise for message content. Is it possible that black men send messages with different content than white men?
7. Finally, this only considers message rates, as if the goal of a dating site is only to get other people to return your messages.
This isn't any kind of a scientific study. Please don't act as though OKCupid has proven anything significant.
- this may be exceedingly US centered, as in my country it is not quite as obvious. In fact, the word "race" does not even exist in my language (at least in the American meaning, the equivalent is only used for animals).
- I think questioning assumptions allows one to better discern what is inherited prejudice and what is a universal fact. As you may guess, I think this is an instance of the former and certainly not a permanent/immutable state of things. Furthermore, I think when one claims something is "substantiated", one should come with strong evidence.
There's quite a bit of research to back up his assumption. Every article I've read on the subject bemoans the situation of black women and at the same time points out they have no interest (statistically, anyway) in men of other races.
> It also completely ignores the fact that people in the black communities may not wish to date people from other races.
I think it's more the other way around.
My observation, and I believe this is backed up by research, is that black women are more willing to date outside their race than other races are willing to date black women.
But yeah, people generally date within their race.
>The theory of African American alienation is upheld, as African Americans are generally less willing to interracially date than other races and are especially less willing to date European Americans.
Not really. Even if there weren't an imbalance of men it would still smooth things out. Given that black people are about 13% of the total population the difference should largely disappear.
And of course it is a valid choice for them to date whomever they want, but if they would only accept doctors with perfect tens and perfect abs then we would just shake our heads and ignore them. So why aren't we doing so now?
Heck there are a lot of single men in Silicon Valley who would be decent dating material - so why care so much about the color of that persons skin?
You don't need an inverse imbalance (although I'm told one exists). If black women all dated outside their race, then an imbalance of 20% within the black community (assuming blacks make up 10% of the nation) and 0% elsewhere would become a 2% imbalance for Americans as a whole.
I'm well aware people have choices and preferences - I personally prefer to date black and Indian women (and I even have subpreferences). But I'd probably go months without getting laid if I made black/Indian/34C or larger a hard requirement, and I don't think the NYT would portray me as a victim of anything other than my own choices.
It also completely ignores the fact that people in the black communities may not wish to date people from other races. it isn't a breading farm after all, people's choices matter a lot. If black woman want to date a black man, that is completely normal/understandable/a valid choice.