Dating preference across racial groups

[Maciamo]

I found two related articles with surveys on dating preferences based on the racial background. The data is from OkCupid (online dating website). Answers from over 1 million people were taken into account, so it is a big survey (hence also fairly reliable).

Birds of a feather flocking together



Here we see that a much higher percentage of White people prefer to stick to their own racial* group. The gap with other races is huge. 54% of White females and 40% of White males strongly prefer to date someone who is also White. The average for non-Whites is only 20%. At the bottom, only 11% of Black males say that they only want to date Black women.

The second article gives more precision about the perceived attractiveness from one specific racial group to another, both from the males and females' point of view.

Patterns of response rates on OkCupid by sex & race



Here we see that Black women are the least popular, with 31 to 41% of males replying to them. Middle-Eastern females are the most popular, with 47 to 63% of men responding to their inquiries, followed by White and Asian females. What is surprising is that men almost always prefer Middle-Eastern women to women from their own racial background, except ironically for Middle-Eastern men who prefer Pacific Islander females.

When receiving a inquiry from a man, Black and Native American women were the most likely to reply, while Asian, Hispanic and White women were the least disposed to.



*the definition I use for "racial group" is based on continental and subcontinental divisions, which is different from the "ethnic groups" that subdivide a race. For instance, White/European is a racial group, while Basque or Finn would be an ethnic group.

[Minty]

I am surprised at this report, but then again it was conducted in the US and I never lived in the U.S. hence it could not represent the rest of the world.

I agree with everything else but that men almost always prefer Middle-Eastern women to women from their own racial background.

I have been just about everywhere I have never seen an East Asian man with Middle Eastern woman. However my dad told me his ex- employee’s brother which is of Sino Malaysian decent married and Saudi Arabian princess and converted into Muslim. But that's the only one I heard.

I don't recalled seeing much black men with Middle Eastern woman neither.
Unless the men's desire does not reflect their actions because of cultural, religious...etc differences that they think it will not work, so they couldn't be bothered trying. They could have fantasies about somebody different but they can't bring that into reality successfully so they stay with the choices that are most likely to work.

As for white men they go with everybody.

So now we are equivalent to White women in terms of preference by men in the U.S??!!!

[Maciamo]

I also find it strange, Minty. I agree that cultural and especially religious differences certainly prevent dating between most Middle-Eastern and other people.

Then I don't think that Middle-Eastern is a valid racial group. Turks have little to do with, say Egyptians, Yemeni, or Iranians. Even with a same country, western and eastern Turks are quite different genetically, and so are northern and southern Iraqi.

Pacific Islanders, on the other hand, are not that different from other East Asians. It would be easier to confuse a Tahitian and a Philippino than a Western Turk and a Omani.

The limit between Native American and Hispanic is not always clear either, because most Hispanics have mixed European and Native American (and sometimes African) blood.

[Wilhelm]

Hispanic/Latin is not a race.

Hispanic/Latin is a linguistic term, not a racial term.

[Cambrius (The Red)]

Hispanic/Latin is not a race.

Hispanic/Latin is a linguistic term, not a racial term.

Hispanic is a cultural term fundamentally tied to language. It is used to codify Western Hemisphere Spanish speaking populations. A very large number of these people are of mixed racial heritage, although some South American countries such as, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile have significant numbers of whites. Specifically, there are large majorities in Argentina and Uruguay.

[Wilhelm]

Hispanic is a cultural term fundamentally tied to language. It is used to codify Western Hemisphere Spanish speaking populations. A very large number of these people are of mixed racial heritage, although some South American countries such as, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile have significant numbers of whites. Specifically, there are large majorities in Argentina and Uruguay.

whites in Chile are only about 30%

[Cambrius (The Red)]

whites in Chile are only about 30%

In latin America, a white population of 30% is significant.

[Cambrius (The Red)]

I also find it strange, Minty. I agree that cultural and especially religious differences certainly prevent dating between most Middle-Eastern and other people.

Then I don't think that Middle-Eastern is a valid racial group. Turks have little to do with, say Egyptians, Yemeni, or Iranians. Even with a same country, western and eastern Turks are quite different genetically, and so are northern and southern Iraqi.

Pacific Islanders, on the other hand, are not that different from other East Asians. It would be easier to confuse a Tahitian and a Philippino than a Western Turk and a Omani.

The limit between Native American and Hispanic is not always clear either, because most Hispanics have mixed European and Native American (and sometimes African) blood.

Yes, I agree, "Middle Eastern" is not a valid racial group. One might consider "Semitic" as a racial group that includes Middle Eastern peoples... Don't know.

[Wilhelm]

Yes, I agree, "Middle Eastern" is not a valid racial group. One might consider "Semitic" as a racial group that includes Middle Eastern peoples... Don't know.

The middle-east is a political invention. There is no such thing as the middle-east nor middle-easterns
Even though, most countries belonging to middle-east are Semitic,
So ,yes, most middle-easterns are Semitic, and they are characterized by having lots of J1 and J2 y-dna.
Iranians speak a Indo-European language, but ethnically they are like their neighboring countries