Discrimination in Sex
Is it racist to discriminate based on race when it comes to who you're going to sleep with? Personals ads--at least the gay ones--often include a "whites only" statement. Sounds a little racist. Not all of them are pro-white though; many express a particular interest in latinos, blacks, or Asians. I briefly dated a guy who told me he wouldn't get involved with anyone who was "not Caucasian." Is this necessarily racism or can it just be a matter of personal taste?
Let's assume the entire issue is physical attraction. Anyone who isn't bisexual discriminates based on sex in this area, and people have all sorts of arbitrary criteria for sex partners. Is there any logical reason a person with no sexual attraction to people of a given race should be treated differently from, for instance, a person not being attracted to anyone over 6 foot 3?
Let's assume the entire issue is physical attraction. Anyone who isn't bisexual discriminates based on sex in this area, and people have all sorts of arbitrary criteria for sex partners. Is there any logical reason a person with no sexual attraction to people of a given race should be treated differently from, for instance, a person not being attracted to anyone over 6 foot 3?
posted by Chris Althouse Cohen at 3:01 PM
7 Comments:
Well, we marry our mothers so......
It's true. There was a big study done, sociology, anthropology.....
....we are all looking for 'mama'...in whatever package that should come in----
(You think I use too many of these ........... ...thingy-s???)
(-------) (........) !!!!!!!!
How annoying, huh?
Peace, Maxine
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Here's a politically -correct answer to question (and a few other related ones): Tips for Interracial Dating, written by someone associated with PrideAlive, the Minnesota AIDS Project.
You will note that all faults, short-comings, and racism are by default assigned to white males in the essay.
In #2. the author asks, "Do you know of equivalent names for guys who only like White men? I’m unfamiliar with one…why might someone be unfamiliar with such a term but know the others?"
Based only on his written work here, I must conclude he is not that stupid so he could only be not telling the truth to score a political point. Anyone who has been "out" and about or "in the life" for longer than a week or two knows that the common term is "potato queen." Then again, Minnesota may really be 40 years behind San Francisco, but I kind of doubt it.
It seems to me that he is implying that males of color do not not engage in similar race-related discrimination with regard to sex partners. Based on my 30 years of personal experience, this notion is unsupported by the facts.
internet ronin: I have never heard the term "potato queen" before, nor does it make a lot of sense to me given that potatos have dark skin. Peach queen, maybe.
I have to admit that hyperbole got the better of me, Christopher. That said, it is a term that has been in constant use for as long I have been a gay man to describe those (usually Asian) who prefer white partners. As the author of that article pointed out white males who prefer Asians are often referred to as "rice queens." My point about his comment, shorn of hyperbole, is that he presents himself as being well-informed, and is aware of the "rice queen" tag, yet has never heard of the other. Personally, I find that hard to believe.
BTW, "potato queen" is not meant as a reference to the color of anyone's skin but to the fact that the potato is widely perceived as a staple of the American diet, just as rice is viewed as a staple of the Asian diet.
There are many sources for this info, the first that came to mind was here: The Urban Dictionary.
Well, I've been puzzling over the answer to your question and am not making much headway.
At first blush, I feel - particularly when you are assuming the entire issue is physical attraction - that there is no difference between a racial preference and some other physical preference.
But why, then, do I feel its a little wonky to prefer a specific race that isn't your own?
And if that's wonky, what becomes of a person like me who is not just one race?
"Is this necessarily racism or can it just be a matter of personal taste?"
That's what racism is - personal taste... malignant personal taste.
The problem isn't in preferring potatoes to rice. The problem is in believing that because I eat potatoes and eschew rice, my shit don't stink.
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