White and black dating

Systemic racism continues to oppress and “other” people of colour and interracial romantic relationships were taboo — even illegal — until shamefully recently in our history. So are you racist if you aren’t open to dating everyone? It's fair to say that our interracial dating community represents the enlightened majority in American society.A Gallup poll in 2013 found that 96% of black people and 84% of white people approve marriage between blacks and whites.

But there are parts of the country - and certainly around the world - where the stigma is still rife and keenly felt by those in an interracial relationship.

Consider the male Asian characters in movies you’ve seen in the last several years. When was the last time you saw a North American film where a desirable Asian man played the romantic lead and didn’t know martial arts?

A similar story presents itself when we deconstruct black women in popular culture.

In film and television, black women are often portrayed as two-dimensional “strong and sassy” stereotypes (see: Leslie Jones’ character in “) When cast as a romantic interest, they’re usually played by biracial or multiracial women with lighter skin tones, such as Halle Berry or Zendaya.“Society tells us that black women are hypersexual but also more masculine than other women, while it suggests that Asian men are less masculine — to the point of being effeminate — and that they are physically less attractive,” says Shantel Buggs, a Ph D Candidate in sociology at the University of Texas.

“All of this centres on Eurocentric beauty standards, which privilege those who are white or are white adjacent in appearance — things like lighter skin, light coloured eyes, thinner noses, certain jawline shapes.