Are people who only date within their own race, racists?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

[NMDemDist2]

1. other.. how in the world would I know

the only race i've missed is oriental (unless south sea islander fits that)

[billbuckhead]

2. Race is pretty much a hoax

There's more differentiation within so-called races than between them.

[NMDemDist2]

4. that's always been my take, skin color, hair color, eye color

are all optional IMO

[HFishbine]

7. Great point

This came up at dinner the other night and nobody had an authoritative answer. Gender can be genetically determined, but is their anything in a person's DNA that indicates their "race"?

[papau]

15. No - there is no RACE in DNA - we are a little dif by location/village

but not by race - since race can not be defined by any scientif measure - it is a bit of a trick question.

Niger valley speech pattern

shade of skin

It is indeed hard to find a set of things that might make up a few different races - the Germans tried in the 1890's and had about a hundred races.

Afraid we are all one race. :-)

Now can we talk about my problem of being not tall, not young, and not slim?

:-)

Or I almost forgot the other problem - not enough money.

Afraid I do not have time to worry about race.

:-)

[calico1]

20. I answered "other" because

I really think it depends. Of course there are people that only date people of their own race because they are racist. But there are others who date within their race just because its more familiar. I am Hispanic and engaged to an Irish-American (or at least his name is Irish--he tans much darker than me, LOL!) but I know Hispanics who have always dated Hispanics because they know the person has a similar background, culture and religion. Yet they have many friends that are non Hispanic. I think with some people it just doesn't occur to them to date anyone that is different racially but that does not necessarily mean they are racist people. Don't know if I make any sense!

[alarcojon]

26. You make perfect sense to me

There is a certain familiarity that comes with a shared cultural heritage. Sometimes there are also linguistic issues.

[qazplm]

3. in some ways yes

I mean obviously anytime you differentiate based on race you are a "racist" but the degrees are much different...

we all have something in us that is "racist" but I think there is a far difference between only dating your own race because your a white woman who likes men who are blond hair and blue eyed, and because you think all them "darkies" are shifty.

Being mulatto myself, almost by default all my dating is interracial dating lol

And I think I have hit just about every race and ethnic origin under the sun (no pun intended).

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. Maybe...

It would depend on thier reason for only dating in thier race.

If they did so because they thought women from other races were inferior or something like that then yeah that would be racist.

Otherwise, no.

[Cleita]

6. That's my take too.

Sometimes people aren't attracted to certain racial types, but I wouldn't call it racist as much as a personal preference. I mean a Chinese friend of mine once confided in me that a certain Caucasian man was making unwelcome advances to her and she didn't know what to do. She said she thought he was a nice person, but she just wasn't attracted to white men. I don't think that is racist or am I wrong?

[Cornus]

19. You're not wrong

It's just a personal preference which can hardly be considered racist.

[bigbillhaywood]

8. One of my friends had only had sex with white women, so he hired several

hookers so he could have sex with all the major races/ethnicities within a two month period. Funny, most of my friends are both politically progressive and very sleazy. Of course, some of my friends are just plain sleazy. This isn't reflecting very well on me, is it? Oh well.

[stavka]

9. Are black men who feel having a white woman a plus racists?

[Jack_DeLeon]

10. maybe...

If they want white women because they think white women > black women then yeah I would say that is racist.

Now if they just want white women to piss off white guys then that might not be racist. Or if it is probably not as racist.

[bacchant]

11. Why would someone only date within their own race?

Never met a pretty girl of any stripe that wasn't worthy of my love ;)

[LuminousX]

12. What if I just don't like blondes?

What if I have a preference for pale , pasty redheads because that is what turns me on? I mean lets be realistic, you are attracted to who you are attracted to. A racist would be a person who denied his/her attraction because of the other person's race.

[neverborn]

24. pale , pasty redheads

YES PLEASE ;P

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

13. other, it depends if they even meet people of other races

Orange County (where I live, for example) is a cultural wasteland. Everyone is white. So, I'm not a racist (then again, I'm don't date because I'm not "into" immature middle school girls).
It's all perspective.

[Spinzonner]

17. You dont get out much do you

Around the rest of Orange COunty here are major pluralities of Hispanics, Vietnamese, African-Americans, and various other ethnic groups.

This aint your grandfather's Orange County anymore.

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

22. In my school there are two African-Americans

and probably five hispanics. There are a lot of Japanese Chinese and Vietnamese though. A lot of my friends are asian.

[hiphopnation]

14. No.

But it does have a way of keeping you in a box that becomes harder and harder to get out of, IMHO. If you date or marry out of your race you are thrust into that world and are forced to learn about it which makes you more tolerant and understanding and leads to more education and acceptance. $0.02

[Don_G]

16. I'd Hope Not

But then again, I didn't know Nadar was Arabic until someone at DU mentiomed it.

I guess I make a lousy racist.

[LittleApple81]

18. It all depends where you choose your friends from. My daughter as a

small child never noticed race. She had two kids that liked her, both named Charlie. I knew the first Charlie. We went to a soccer game and I saw the second Charlie. He was the cutest black kid. I asked my daughter how come she had never mentioned that this Charlie was black. And she said "why should I?" Good question. I felt embarrassed for asking. To this day (she is over 20 now) she never mentions race or color when talking about people.

[SuffragetteSal]

21. Love is love, what's color got to do with it?

It really is not that simple and I wonder why you are asking. It would be generalizing to assume so.

Culture, environment, economics, geographics could all play a role if we were to intellectualize, but I have found that love has no color boundaries and if one opens their heart anyone can be an 'equal opportunity dater'!

[eyesroll]

23. Depends on the reason.

Person A: "Eew. They're dirty."
Person B: "I have to keep my bloodlines clean."
Person C: "I don't want to get stuck paying all of the time, and you know how those people are."

Persons A, B, and C are exceedingly racist.

But: Plenty of people have only dated within their race, but not because they're actively trying not to.

If we're using the broadest racial categories possible (besides just "human"), then I've never dated out of my race. (If we consider someone of Hispanic origin fooling around with someone of non-Hispanic origin to be "interracial dating," then I have, but Hispanic isn't usually considered a race, and, um, fooling around at 16 isn't really dating.)

Then again, I met my now-husband when I was 17, so it's not like I had a lot of time to cultivate a multicultural little black book.

I don't consider myself, or my choices, racist -- white guys make up 100% of my dating history, but not because I was ruling out dating others. I just never did date others. If I was dating now, it would be the same -- I wouldn't be dating people based on race, but there is a fairly reasonable chance that most, if not all, of my dates still would be white (simply statistically speaking -- I live in a mostly white community).

[JI7]

25. some only date within, but don't have a problem with others who date

outside of their race. i never really saw these people as racists. personally, i think much of it is cultural rather than race. someone who grows up in a multicultural area in america is probably more likely to have no problems dating outside of their race than someone who grew up in an area which is less diverse.

[HuskerDem]

27. Other, There are many other possible reasons

1. They could be trapped in Vermont.
2. Could be they never met anyone outside of their race that "did it" for them.
3. Could be they've never met anyone at all.
4. They could be caving to outside pressures ignoring thier own feelings.
5. Could be a dozen other reasons I've not thought of.

[Heddi]

28. No, I don't think so

I'm not attracted to red-headed men. NEver dated one. I'm sure that there's tons of nice, handsome red-heads out there, but that's just not my cup of tea. Same with blonde guys. Nope.

However, my unattraction for them in a dating/sexual/live forever with them way doesn't transcend into daily interactions. I'm not rude to red-heads, and I don't berate blonde men as they walk down the street.

Physically I'm not attracted to them.

If someone doest date outside their race, more likely than not it's because they're just not attracted to people outside their race, or people of a certain race. That doesn't automatically mean that in addition to not being attracted to them, that they would suddenly treat them badly in the 'real' world.

Of course some people would, and those people WOULD BE considered racists.

However, I think that most people don't necessarily "choose" the person that they love/date/marry etc in the sense that we have this fantasy of our perfect mate, and more often than not the reality does NOT mirror the fantasy. I love my husband for who he is. He happens to be white. I'm very certain that he could be black and we would still be married and have a great relationship. It just happens that my sig other is a white man. He could have just as easily have been a black woman---it's the inside, not the outside that matters to most people, I'm sure

[Hell Hath No Fury]

29. Sometimes, sometimes not....

I have met folks who will not date out of their own "race" (white Texan who wouldn't dream of dating a black man) for reasons I took to be racially motivated.

I have met folks who only date folks of one race other than their own (white guys/Asian women, white guys/Latin twinks) for reasons I took to be racially motivated.

I have met folks who only date people who fulfill a certain physical description ("I only date blondes") for reasons I took to be frankly narrow and shallow.

And there are folks who will date anybody of any race if they find them atractive in any way.

I belong in that later category. :)

I have a serious physical attraction for blonde men with brown eyes, for men with British accents, and for men with beautiful hands. Now, how stupid would I be to run across a great guy and go, "Well, he's cool but he doesn't have blonde hair/brown eyes/a British accents/beautiful hands so I just won't give him the time of day."

If I had chosen to limit myself so vigourously, I would have missed out on a heck of a lot of good lovin'. :)

[mvd]

30. Sometimes

When you have pre-conceived notions about what people of another race are like, it's racist.

If you are just attracted more to your own race, it's not racist. Though if you don't admit ANY attraction to people of other races, you could very well be racist.