Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Now Race and the Mating Marketplace

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the races to mix.” Judge Leon Bazile (1959) States where interracial marriages were illegal are shaded red Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Race and the Mating Marketplace

Very Slow Growth –1970: Less than 1% of marriages are interracial –2005: Only 7.5% of marriages are interracial Both Race And Socioeconomic Status Matter Racial Aversion and Racial Fetishism Approval and Disapproval –Blacks: Disapprove generally, but make exceptions for family and friends –Whites: Approve generally, but disapprove of them for their immediate family and friends. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Race and the Mating Marketplace

Border Patrolling –White women (with black partners) Verbally harassed, socially ostracized, and even excommunicated. Shaming by former White partners –White men (with black partners) People express curiosity, confusion, and sometimes concern from Whites, but open hostility from Black men. –Black men (with white partners) Perceived as “weak” or “selling out.” Seen as betraying and/or weakening the Black family –Black women (with white partners) Perceived as “wanting to be white,” or worse, “disloyal” for giving their bodies to White men Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Race and the Mating Marketplace

Exchange Theory Assumptive Scopes Exchange relationships develop within structures of interdependence between actors. Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value. Actors engage in recurring, mutually contingent exchange with specific partners over time. All outcomes of value obey a principle of satiation or diminishing marginal utility

Exchange Resources (Rewards) Blau (1964): Personal attraction, social acceptance, social approval, instrumental services, respect/prestige, and compliance/power. Foa & Foa (1974, 1980): Love, status, services, goods, information, and money. Merton and Davis (1941): Race and caste Gonzales & Meyers (1993): Attractiveness, financial security, expressiveness, instrumentality, sincerity, and sex. Exchange Theory “Humans seek rewards and avoid risks/punishments” Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value

Social Acceptance Exchange Theory “Humans seek rewards and avoid risks/punishments” Actors behave in ways that increase outcomes they positively value and decrease outcomes they negatively value Exchange resources at risk in interracial relationships Social Approval Respect/Prestige Status Security

Methodology San Francisco, CA Phoenix, AZ Denver, CO Dallas, TX Houston, TX Kansas City, KS St. Louis, MO Miami, FL Baltimore, MD Collection of nearly 7000 personal advertisements from the personal ads sections of ten cities’ free newsweeklies (i.e., City Papers): Chosen for their regional diversity and ethnic makeup. New York City, NY

Methodology cont’d Newspaper Gender Sexual Orientation Race Age Race Desired Age Desired Type of Relationship Desired Gender Role For Self Gender Role For Other Mentions of HIV, Drugs, Children, and Religion Resources Offered/Sought –Physical Attractiveness –Financial Security –Expressive Traits –Instrumental Traits –Sincerity –Interest in Public and/or Private Relationship Trained coders recorded both objective information (e.g., race, age) and specific content categories (dichotomous, frequency, specific words) to be included in the analysis.

Desired Personal Characteristics This is the usual trend discussed in the literature

Offered Personal Characteristics This is the usual trend discussed in the literature

White Heterosexual Men

Race Of Desired Partner Whites, Anglo-American R Will Date This Race R Exclusively Seeks This Race “Just the term ‘black women’ conjures up thoughts of an overweight, dark-skinned, loud, poorly educated person with gold teeth yelling at somebody in public. I hope that doesn’t make me racist but honestly that’s the 1st thing I think of.” “Sexual attraction for me is a combination of physical and personal attributes. If I find a Black woman attractive, it is because their hair type and facial features are more representative of the Caucasian race. If that aspect is attractive, then their speech and intelligence level would have to be more representative of that found more prevalent in other races such as Caucasian or Asian.” From Brittany Slatton’s Mythologizing Black Women The Ten Most Commonly Selected Traits About American Women (256 White College Students) Intelligent Materialistic Sensitive Attractive Sophisticated Emotional Ambitious Career-Oriented Independent Talkative [From Weitz and Gordon 1993] The Ten Most Commonly Selected Traits About American Women (256 White College Students) Intelligent Materialistic Sensitive Attractive Sophisticated Emotional Ambitious Career-Oriented Independent Talkative [From Weitz and Gordon 1993] The Ten Most Commonly Selected Traits About Black Women (256 White College Students) Loud Talkative Aggressive Intelligent Straightforward Argumentative Stubborn Quick-Tempered Bitchy Too Many Children [From Weitz and Gordon 1993 ] The Ten Most Commonly Selected Traits About Black Women (256 White College Students) Loud Talkative Aggressive Intelligent Straightforward Argumentative Stubborn Quick-Tempered Bitchy Too Many Children [From Weitz and Gordon 1993 ]