I've been keeping an eye on this thread and I'm surprised nobody's answered the question.
So I'll do it myself.
The reason some black men like white women (it's called jungle fever) is because of slavery and the legacy of slavery. Black men used to get killed if they were suspected of even looking at a white woman. They were abused and humiliated physically and psychologically in countless ways, but interracial sex was particularly taboo especially if the man was black and the woman white. It was extremely controversial as late as the sixties, before the Civil Rights Movement.
So for some black men being with a white woman is a sign of status and courage, signalling that they're not helpless in the face of racism.
It's nothing to do with race, and race is nothing to do with masculinity/femininity (or anything else for that matter, since race doesn't exist). It's all about the society that the mind inhabits and how the two interact, making people who they are.
I think all Americans should read at least five books about slavery and get rid of the populistic notion that race relations between black and white people are problematic because people from different races are different from each other. In fact race relations are difficult because of slavery.
While not implausible, it is by no means the most expedient explanation, especially when you throw the Asian Americans into the fray.
Quote:
It's nothing to do with race, and race is nothing to do with masculinity/femininity (or anything else for that matter, since race doesn't exist). It's all about the society that the mind inhabits and how the two interact, making people who they are.
'Races' don't exist per se, but this should never be confused with the idea that there aren't differences in the means of traits between "African Americans" and "White Americans". When you take samples of people from two spatially disparate locations and put them in one place and discourage mixing, where before you had clines making the notion of a race at best an arbitrary locus on a continuum of varying traits, there now becomes a very abrupt distinction in traits between the two populations; this is why in the US identifying the "race" of the remains in forensics is a useful strategy when trying to identify them (while I have heard similar tactics don't work in some countries due to the make up of the population). That is, races don't exist, but variations in traits do. The "race doesn't exist" buzz line is a simplification of the way that traits vary continuously between areas rather than abruptly as is posited by the "race" concept (or, more cynically, it is a simplification of the idea of the idea that the difference in means between populations on a trait is well within the variance within any given population). But it would be like saying black skin color doesn't exist because there is a continuum of intermediary skin colors between Sami and Masai.
My intuition is that you are far overplaying the role of slavery and status in this because this explanation is very catered to the particularities of US historical race relations, and I want to speculate that similar patterns will persist even in the absence of this, a la the Asian-white-black mating pattern. Not that status is not relevant and effecting the outcome, but I sincerely doubt it is sufficient to explain the trend entirely. _________________ Without logic reason is useless.
With it, you can win arguments and alienate multitudes.
I'm not attracted to very many black women. I don't interact with very many black women. The ones I interact with are of lower socioeconomic standing than I am, and they have less education. I was raised in a farming village in the rural South. The fact that black people are inferior is just accepted. Overt racism is common. Racial hatred hangs in the air. If you want to get inside the mind of a black man, read James Baldwin. He's the only author I've ever read who articulates what I feel being a black man in a caste system left over from slavery. I don't like black people. I look down on black people. I absorbed the values of Kentucky culture. Why Blacks are at the bottom of the totem pole in America. Why wouldn't a black man want to be with a white woman? A white woman is more valuable. Plus, a white woman doesn't have the emotional baggage that comes from being treated like trash for being black. White women often times are more affluent. Not to mention, white women are well-connected. Most of the power in America is held by white people. I still carry a resentment against the black people I was raised with. I was successful at school, so I was 'acting white.' Black girls didn't want me. Black guys didn't want to be my friend. The white kids were nicer to me. Also, everyone in my accelerated classes was white except me. I feel more comfortable around white people. I feel more comfortable around white women. Also, my mom is miscegenated. She doesn't look black. She has golden skin and the facial features of a Native American. My grandmother could pass for white. She has fair skin and red-hair. My step-mom is as white as they come: really red hair, pale skin, and freckles. Those early childhood experiences of receiving nurturing from women who do not look black and being rejecting by all my black peers have definitely affected the way I view women. The question of why black men like white women is so complex. There is no satisfactory answer. African Americans are varied. Socioeconomic status, education, rural/urban, region--all these things play a role. Anyway, the above passage explains why I am attracted to white women, I think.
Joined: Dec 31, 2007 Posts: 330 Location: Berkshire, UK
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 3:22 pm Post subject:
CottlestonPie wrote:
I'm not attracted to very many black women. I don't interact with very many black women. The ones I interact with are of lower socioeconomic standing than I am, and they have less education. I was raised in a farming village in the rural South. The fact that black people are inferior is just accepted. Overt racism is common. Racial hatred hangs in the air. If you want to get inside the mind of a black man, read James Baldwin. He's the only author I've ever read who articulates what I feel being a black man in a caste system left over from slavery. I don't like black people. I look down on black people. I absorbed the values of Kentucky culture. Why Blacks are at the bottom of the totem pole in America. Why wouldn't a black man want to be with a white woman? A white woman is more valuable. Plus, a white woman doesn't have the emotional baggage that comes from being treated like trash for being black. White women often times are more affluent. Not to mention, white women are well-connected. Most of the power in America is held by white people. I still carry a resentment against the black people I was raised with. I was successful at school, so I was 'acting white.' Black girls didn't want me. Black guys didn't want to be my friend. The white kids were nicer to me. Also, everyone in my accelerated classes was white except me. I feel more comfortable around white people. I feel more comfortable around white women. Also, my mom is miscegenated. She doesn't look black. She has golden skin and the facial features of a Native American. My grandmother could pass for white. She has fair skin and red-hair. My step-mom is as white as they come: really red hair, pale skin, and freckles. Those early childhood experiences of receiving nurturing from women who do not look black and being rejecting by all my black peers have definitely affected the way I view women. The question of why black men like white women is so complex. There is no satisfactory answer. African Americans are varied. Socioeconomic status, education, rural/urban, region--all these things play a role. Anyway, the above passage explains why I am attracted to white women, I think.
The above passage explains why racism still persists in today's society. _________________ I don’t have any friends at all
Cause I have nothing in common with ya’ll - Gnarls Barkley 'Whatever'
Joined: Feb 05, 2008 Age: 26 Posts: 10852 Location: Anywhere but HERE!
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:45 pm Post subject:
What I don't understand is where race comes in...if you were mixed.
What about those who came from mixed backgrounds but could pass for white?
I've seen racism in every form espeacially with mulatos. I just don't understand this thing called "class system"...then again, I don't live in the south.
This thread isn't making much since to me now. _________________ Oh you can't help that. We're all mad here.
__Cheshire the Cat
6thSin:Envy
Which totally supports the claim as in 73% of black/white relationships (in the US), it's a black husband and white wife. Also interesting in that in Asian/White relationships, it's the other way around, mostly white male.
....
Clearly black women do not find white men very attractive. The question is why???
Perhaps black men haven't been so badly affected by having the ideals of feminism inflicted on them? I was indoctrinated to believe that you should treat male and female alike. It's taken me decades to realise that most women don't really want to be treated like men!
No... it's not really that complicated. Black men/white women? White men/Asian women? Why are there less occurences of black women with white men? Based on the stats, the common denominator seems to be this: Size DOES matter, apparently, when it comes to both genders. _________________ Jillian AKA Rainstorm5
Joined: Aug 22, 2006 Age: 48 Posts: 3666 Location: the Antipodes
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:18 am Post subject:
^^ you liberal, you
Irisrises wrote:
The reason some black men like white women (it's called jungle fever) is because of slavery and the legacy of slavery. ... I think all Americans should read at least five books about slavery and get rid of the populistic notion that race relations between black and white people are problematic because people from different races are different from each other. In fact race relations are difficult because of slavery.
How would you explain problems here (Australia) when white man first settled 1788 and Port Phillip colony (Melbourne) was first settled c1835 well after England declared slavery illegal in 1772?
According to your theory, black-white relations would be good here, but I'm afraid its not really. _________________ I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.
Strewth!
Last edited by BazzaMcKenzie on Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:49 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Aug 22, 2006 Age: 48 Posts: 3666 Location: the Antipodes
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:49 am Post subject:
Irisrises wrote:
... The reason some black men like white women ...
Actually I think that if you started with the assumption that people would meet and get together/match up randomly with respect to race, then there would much more inter-racial couples than there are. So my gut feel is statistics would show that black men avoid white women rather than "go after" them (or vica-versa). _________________ I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.
Strewth!
I haven't been around for a while so I only just saw this again.
Bazza, you're not seeing the forest for the trees, i.e. you're reading words rather than their meanings. Both your objections to my post do this.
With or without slavery the Aboriginal population in Australia has been subjected to horrific abuses by Europeans and descendants of Europeans. So it's a similar situation.
And I deliberately added "some" to the original question because I recognize that many/most black men are not particualrly attracted specifically to white women, and that many interracial couples are not primarily attracted to each other's race.
Warsie HMFIC G Representin' Da South Side of Chi-Town
Joined: Apr 04, 2008 Age: 17 Posts: 1037 Location: Chicago, IL USA
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:31 pm Post subject: Re: Why Do Black Men Go After White Women?
slowmutant wrote:
Is it an ethnic fetish? All brothers on the spectrum, feel free to explain.
Because they aren't (as)sassy and bitchy and as sarcastic as caucasian females. At least given my experience. You don't see white people snapping and bitching and hollering and going off the handle and speaking in ebonics do you? Heard of the bitch snap? African-Americans (and Canadians) do it more than caucasians).
Though as I'm autistic (as most people here), I don't fit everyone, some (as in other blacks) people don't care and don't discriminate, the amount of miscegnation is equal to intraracial marriage, etc.
Also note again, this is my opinion. Others may treat this as a cultural difference, which I am willing to accept. _________________ I am a Star Wars Fan, Warsie here.
What I don't understand is where race comes in...if you were mixed.
None of my black family members or peers were nice to me. The only women who were nice to me looked white. That's why I talked about my mom and grandmom. They nurtured me. Neither of them look black. On a subconscious level I associate black women with being mean and white women with being nice, because that is what I experienced as a child and adolescent.
Joined: Jan 05, 2008 Age: 15 Posts: 367 Location: New York, USA
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:08 am Post subject:
In my experience, and I've seen this mostly around where I live but it's the most common it's usually a fairly thin black male going out with an overweight white female. I'm in no way intending to be racist here, nor am I racist considering around 54% of my friends are of a different race than I but my friend always says "Well they can have the fat white chicks, we don't want'em anyway".
Warsie HMFIC G Representin' Da South Side of Chi-Town
Joined: Apr 04, 2008 Age: 17 Posts: 1037 Location: Chicago, IL USA
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:17 am Post subject:
z0rp wrote:
In my experience, and I've seen this mostly around where I live but it's the most common it's usually a fairly thin black male going out with an overweight white female. I'm in no way intending to be racist here, nor am I racist considering around 54% of my friends are of a different race than I but my friend always says "Well they can have the fat white chicks, we don't want'em anyway".
It's not odd. It's to be expected. I'm sure this vid fits perfectly well. I remember my mom (Who is not fat) listening to this on a R&B station repeatedly
It's probably a cultural thing, as well. African-Americans aren't as influenced by caucasian media and are less likely to end up Alexoric and/or Bulimic due to said media. And a different diet ('Soul Food' is more fatty) _________________ I am a Star Wars Fan, Warsie here.
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The above passage explains why racism still persists in today's society.
