A recent look at trends in online dating reveals some startling numbers. Now two generations removed from the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s and ‘70s, it would seem we’re still struggling with ingrained divides between races.
“Are You Interested” is a dating app which integrates into a user’s Facebook account to connect that user to potential dates. The site claims to add over 50,000 new users a day, compared to only 20,000 at other online dating behemoth Match.com.
Those in charge of “Are You Interested” looked at over 2.4 million interactions from their site and found, overwhelmingly, Asian women to be the most likely to receive messages from men. The only group of men not likely to contact Asian women, ironically enough, is Asian men. This tends to reinforce almost fetishized stereotypes of Asian women among other races.
On the flip side, white men are most likely to receive the attentions of female users. The data showed the only group of women not likely to contact white men to be black women. In fact, black women are the least likely group to get any messages, period.
While this data seems depressing on the surface, some say it has more to do with first-date jitters and uncertainties regarding other cultures. XOJane.com contributor Veronica Miller, responded to the data with a common anecdote among black women. “A man who’s white or Latino [or] Asian” invariably tries to prove how “down” they are by asking their black dates things like “Who’s better, Tupac or Biggie?”
Anne Ishii, editor-in-chief of the race and dating forum “They’re All So Beautiful,” chimed in from the perspective of the Asian woman. “There’s this idea of [Asian women as the] Geisha or concubine, or…a submissive wife…It just makes it really difficult for [Asian women].”
No matter who you date, remember, the sum of their person is much more than just the color of their skin or the shape of their hair.
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