I'm a white woman that had a serious relationship with an asian man. However, he was not from the US, but a Japanese man living in the States - so my experience doesn't really match the scenario painted here.
Getting to the point, I think that "studies" like the one you describe tend to do nothing more than label - and often label incorrectly. Seemingly innocuous comments brought up in the results can lead to the reinforcement of negative stereotypes that individuals may or may not be aware they carry around with them.
Yeah, it's interesting to see the trends in dating behavior, and race is a particularly political - therefore interesting - topic in our culture. However, race is just one part of what makes a person a person AND one part of what makes someone attractive to someone else - at least for me. I'm not saying I don't have physical preferences that draw my eye to certain men, but after that initial attraction, if they aren't funny, intelligent, caring and a variety of other things - chances are we wouldn't make it as a couple. Sometimes, those types of qualities shine through to make someone more attractive to you than you might have expected.
Basically, it is simply silly to worry about one particular demographic group not procreating based on the logic that their particular sex/race combo is "less marriageable". (That seems to be the worry implied by the post). I'm not even going to open any of the cans of worms associated with how the data of the study may have been collected and manipulated, that marriage doesn't necessarily equal children (or that singleness equals no children, for that matter), etc.
One of the first things they teach you if you ever take a Sociology course is that a person's ideas about what is acceptable are formed by what they see others doing around them. There's even a proven theory that says the more often you see something, the more likely you are to carry out that same action. This is how you family, your peers, and society in general tells you 'this kind of person is ok for someone like you to marry'. This is why people generally look for others of the opposite gender to have relationships with. It is why, in our culture, we don't marry anyone remotely related to us, even though the genetic dangers of incest virtually disapear if you were to marry someone as far removed as a first cousin.
I have to say that I've also noticed what trekkanacious is talking about before he ever made this post. I think that as long as it is a trend and people are noticing it, it is more likely to continue, and more liklely to become both a more well-endorsed stereotype and a more well-endorsed reality.
I'm not saying that people can't or shouldn't have not-often-seen racial relationships, but I do think that the trends influence what we see as normal and as acceptable.
Getting to the point, I think that "studies" like the one you describe tend to do nothing more than label - and often label incorrectly. Seemingly innocuous comments brought up in the results can lead to the reinforcement of negative stereotypes that individuals may or may not be aware they carry around with them.
Yeah, it's interesting to see the trends in dating behavior, and race is a particularly political - therefore interesting - topic in our culture. However, race is just one part of what makes a person a person AND one part of what makes someone attractive to someone else - at least for me. I'm not saying I don't have physical preferences that draw my eye to certain men, but after that initial attraction, if they aren't funny, intelligent, caring and a variety of other things - chances are we wouldn't make it as a couple. Sometimes, those types of qualities shine through to make someone more attractive to you than you might have expected.
Basically, it is simply silly to worry about one particular demographic group not procreating based on the logic that their particular sex/race combo is "less marriageable". (That seems to be the worry implied by the post). I'm not even going to open any of the cans of worms associated with how the data of the study may have been collected and manipulated, that marriage doesn't necessarily equal children (or that singleness equals no children, for that matter), etc.
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I have to say that I've also noticed what trekkanacious is talking about before he ever made this post. I think that as long as it is a trend and people are noticing it, it is more likely to continue, and more liklely to become both a more well-endorsed stereotype and a more well-endorsed reality.
I'm not saying that people can't or shouldn't have not-often-seen racial relationships, but I do think that the trends influence what we see as normal and as acceptable.
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