What Is Interracial Dating?

Talking about interracial dating and marriage, it is different strokes for different folks. A lot of white women are attracted to black men and a lot of black women are also attracted to white men. However, most people don’t really set out for this. It just happens by chance.

For centuries human beings have been on a quest for love. As time has passed, this search has lead to mixing of races and resulted in interracial relationships, both long-term couples and casual dating.

One’s colour, religion and families origin should not interfere with the happiness between the couple. A publication by the University of Toronto Scarborough furthers this notion of love and relationships; yet explains there are many barriers and challenges which many interracial couples strive to overcome.

I found my situation very thought-provoking that my family fell within the “51%” of African American kids that were raised by a single mother. Additionally, it was even more interesting that I fell within the “390,000” of black American male that is in an interracial relationship. Furthermore, Black Demographics (n.d.) states that “while black men marry white women at twice the rate of Black women, only 7% of married Black men had White (non-Hispanic) spouses in 2014. About 14% percent of African American men married non-Black or Hispanic women in 2014. It is Asian women who have the highest rates of intermarriage which is twice that of Black men”. As a result, the interracial relationship between black and white Americans has held strong.

Using the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), Whites’ attitudes towards dating, cohabiting with, marrying, and having children with African Americans and Asian Americans was studied. It was found that 29% of White respondents reject all kinds of relationships with African Americans and Asian Americans, while 31% endorse them. Second, Whites are less willing to marry and start a family within an interracial relationship than to date interracially. These attitudes and behaviors are related to political conservatism, age, gender, education, and region. Third, White women are likely to approve of interracial relationships for other people but not for themselves. White men however, express more willingness to engage in such relationships

In May 2005 ‘Navigating Interracial Borders’ was published by Erica Chito Childs. The article offers a refined and understanding analysis of the social and political context of interracial relationships in America. Childs explores the world of interracial couples and examines the ways that group attitudes shape relationships. Using her own personal experiences, interviews, group responses, as well as media sources, she provides compelling evidence which verifies that disapproval still exists toward black/white unions. However it is merely being shown in a more subtle manor.

While there are many different types of interracial relationships, as stated by Rose M. Kreider, in America most people understand interracial relationships to be between black and white couples. Now, the question is: why are these relationships such a big deal? Why are they so controversial? The answer to this question varies upon who one talks to, most importantly what community. For example, in David Crary’s article, he interviewed Kelley Kenney, a black woman from Pennsylvania. She was quoted saying that the “older black folks” in her community didn’t want people to “forget where they came from.” Students at the University of South Florida had a similar belief. They believed that the reason why interracial relationships were such a problem was because the

Interracial dating has been considered as unacceptable, and as times has passed, numerous of people have come to accept the relationships of people with

When choosing a partner, race and religion do not matter because interracial relationships nowadays are more common and accepted, and families with two separate religions can still remain faithful without converting.

Over the years in America’s history there has been an increase in interracial relationship statistics. Passed research gives many reason for this increase but also gives reason for why the increase is at such a small percentage. In addition to that passed research studies individual’s views on the topics, which in turn assesses society’s perception on interracial dating and racial identity. Some studies such as Childs with Black women ignored the reasons for the perceived behavior of Black women compared to White women. In the current study the following questions will be explored: How does political conservatism influence individuals viewpoint on interracial relationships versus intraracial relationships? Does racial identity or an individual’s perception of another race correlate with their perception of interracial dating? Do interracial relationships cause unnecessary or more conflict than would be caused in an intraracial relationship? I hypothesize that political conservatism will negatively influence an individual’s viewpoint on interracial relationships versus intraracial relationships. I hypothesize that there is a correlation between racial identity and an individual’s perception of another race. I also hypothesize that interracial relationships do cause more conflict than intraracial

It is unequivocal that interracial dating is not easy. Is any relationship easy, interracial or not? But dating and marriage are not about pleasing others. It is about being with the person you love and want to spend the rest of your life with. Race is not an issue when love is concerned. What is important is the factors that make the relationship work, such as trust and love, not what is pleasing to others.

Lewis and Ford begin by pointing out the Civil Rights movement that began in the 1960’s which acted as a jumpstart to the more diverse institution that we now know today. The article conveys that although there is a significant difference between interracial marriage and interracial dating – there has been a tremendous increase in both in the past several decades. A study and chart done by the U.S Census Bureau in 2004 shows, that there was a 26% increase of White/Other marriages from the 1980’s to the 1990’s; where in the 1990’s to the 2000’s there was a significant 72% increase. The chart also shows a drop in interracial marriages where Black/White marriages from the 1980’s to the 1990’s was 38% to a smaller 31% from the 1990’s to the 2000’s. The chart seems to show a significant trend in dating habits over the last few years, which is something that I was not expecting to see.

In the multi cultural society that we live in today, relationships from all different cultures are welcomed. The mixing of races has been going on for hunherds of years and dates back to the unfortunate years of slavery. Where the mixing of white and black was a taboo, but still carried out by the white slave masters on their black maids/ slaves.

It's heartbreaking when I'm out in public with the one I love and we get all kinds of stares from people who can't process that all love, is love. Whether black and white or maroon and purple, it doesn't matter who you are with. Interracial relationships are just as beautiful as same race relationships, yet they cause so many problems for no reason. I fear for my life for so many reasons and one I have to add is because some people completely disagree with interracial relationships, and take to showing how much they don’t like it to a whole other level.

The success of an interracial marriage, to withstand all the prejudices in society, needs one major ingredient, and that is love. One of the hardest things an interracial couple has to deal with is acceptance from both their families and society. Interestingly, though, Interracial marriages tend to last longer than same race ones because people going into interracial marriages are prepared for a rocky road and are prepared to stick with it, while same race couples may have not experienced that same adversity, and at the first sign of struggle, back out of the marriage. This obviously tells us that whether the marriage is a success or not does not depend upon the races of the partners, or at least not in the way everyone thinks it does. It is obvious that people in general are becoming more open minded and accepting of interracial marriages, however, there still are many social taboos that prevent people from being in such a marriage. Society tends to concentrate on skin color when