What If There Weren’t So Many White People?

March 15th, 2011 by Christian Rudder

As far as I've been able to tell, America has three Big Ideas about race relations:

#1: Pistols.

#2: Chumpriding.

and #3, which kind of follows from the other two: American race relations suck.

Obviously, this post isn't going to change that, but we are going to do something a little different, a thought experiment. Since most thinking about race hinges on the fact that one particular race predominates, what if, using statistical models, you could make that predominance disappear?

Right now, even on a per capita basis, whites gets more messages than non-whites on OkCupid:

But how much of this reflects whites' "popularity" and how much reflects their population? What would this graph look like in a racially-balanced world? How would people's choices change, if the people to choose from weren't mostly of one race?

This post is based on 82 million messages sent on OkCupid over the last few months. Here's what we found.

Our data set

OkCupid is actually less white than the rest of the U.S. Internet, though it's hard to make direct group-to-group comparisons because Quantcast (our national demographic source) doesn't have multiracial data.

For this post, to keep the discussion streamlined and accurate, I'll only include OkCupid's largest single-race groups: whites, asians, blacks, and latinos.

Where To Start

When you look at the messages sent by each of our four biggest racial groups, it's actually kind of amazing how much white people are flooding the market. In raw terms, everybody, whites and non-whites alike, sends white people most of their messages. Broken down by the race of the sender and the recipient, here's what we have:

The above chart actually undersells how much attention whites get, because I assigned equal widths to the four vertical bars representing the message senders. To properly present reality, we should adjust those widths according the size of each population, like so:

You can think of that whole square up there as the dating "pie", and, as it stands, whites get 89% of it. But let's look deeper into the numbers. Thus, our experiment begins.

Here's the data for Asians.

  • As the chart above shows, Asians send about 3 times as many messages to whites as they send to other Asians:
  • However, as we saw before, whites outnumber Asians 19:1 on the site:
  • Putting this messaging and population information together, we get these ratios:
  • Well, what if we rescale these ratios? What if there were 10 whites and 10 Asians instead? How many message would go to each?
  • Our experiment tells us that, given equal numbers, Asians would actually overwhelming prefer to message other Asians.

It turns out that if you bust out your mechanical pencil and use it to punch the "on" button on your laptop and then, with that computer, extend the same kind of analysis to the other groups, you get a fresh sense of American race preferences.

In a world without so many white people, where everyone has an equal choice, that first graph we saw—the average monthly messages people get—would look like this:

And, going for a little more detail, this is how it would break out by age.

I built an interactive visualization of how the Who People Are Messaging chart we were looking at before changes when there aren't so many white people. You can toggle between states and get a sense for yourself.

supposing racial bias:
is like today—the chart will reflect people's current racial messaging preferences
didn't exist—the chart will suppose people are race-blind when deciding who to message
supposing racial composition:
is like today—the chart will reflect the population's current racial composition
is equal—the chart will suppose there are equal numbers of each race
by whites
by asians
by latinos
by blacks
Total area for each group—a measure of their relative popularity:

Here's the by-age analysis for each of the four groups:

Back to reality

"What ifs" are an important part of any researcher's toolkit:

but "what ifs" are only worthwhile if they tell you something relevant in the real world. And here's the value in our thought experiment.

The kind of messaging imbalance that currently exists has observable effects on how people think about race and dating. Search for "interracial couple" on a stock photo site: you'll find a rainbow of Asians, Latinos, Black, and Indians, all hanging out with their white significant others. Or just start typing into Google and see how it completes your sentence:

But as we've seen, in a scenario where people have an equal choice of messaging options, things are very different.

In other words, person for person:

Asians are the most desired racial group in the country.

Then Latinos. Then whites, sort of. As we're seeing it now, the data is being distorted: a huge part of the country is white, and white people mostly like to talk amongst themselves. Intentionally or not, minorities are left out in the cold.

Nonetheless, people prefer their own race

Given equal choice, every race strongly prefers itself:

And white people actually prefer themselves the least, but right now there's just so many of them. It's interesting to think what things would be like if the shoe was on the other foot; if another race outnumbered whites 19:1. We ran a simulation with Asians in whites' role as the dominant group and everyone else was really on the outside looking in then.

You can actually see groups' insularity in real life when you look at cities with larger non-white user bases. Minorities tend to become more and more inward-looking as their numbers increase. The dots on the graph below represent the 150 towns with our largest black populations:

For every 1% increase in the black population, blacks send 2.5% more messages to each other. In Baltimore, for example, 1 in 5 users is black, but half the messages from black people go to other black people. The rate is over twice what you'd expect. Other groups show a similar pattern.

For white people, there are also some places where a relatively smaller population still sends a disproportionately high number of messages to themselves—aka the most racist towns in America. The white people in Greenville, MS, for instance, comprise only 59% of our user base there. However, 95% of their messages go to whites; that's 14× the expected rate.

Cities with the most white-loving white people
#1 Greenville, MS
#2 Jackson, MS
#3 Montgomery, AL
#4 Memphis, TN
#5 Atlanta, GA

The most segregated city north of the Mason-Dixon line is a surprising one: New York. White New Yorkers message other white New Yorkers at about 2× the national rate, probably about Animal Collective.

Soon, there won't be so many white people

Finally, I just want to point out that the hypothetical we chose for our title isn't going to be a hypothetical for much longer. The Census Bureau has concluded that around 2050, whites will no longer be the majority in the U.S.

This is from their website:

Along with this news, I think there's an assumption that at some point all the races will just kind of come together as one, like during Michael Jackson's "Black Or White" video or like during a lawsuit against the estate of Michael Jackson.

The data we're seeing, however, just doesn't support a post-racial future, because even as the races mingle more, people still like to date someone who looks like they do. Asians strongly prefer Asians; Latinos, Latinos, and so on.

Even when white people aren't the majority, society will be as divided as ever.

Endnote: reading level analysis

We analyzed the grade-equivalent reading level of each message in our dataset, and here's a table of how it changes, race to race, message to message.

It seems that generally, people of all races write down to blacks and Latinos and up to Asians and whites. This is a pretty crazy result: proof that race not only affects the quantity of the contacts between people, but the quality as well. For example, the average black person writes at a level almost one full grade-level higher when writing to a white person than when writing to another black person.

292 Responses to “What If There Weren’t So Many White People?”

  1. Etown says:

    I think that too much thought has been put into this without realizing that maybe its just an attraction thing? I’m just not attracted to black girls for the mostpart, does that make me racist?

  2. Really says:

    There’s no such thing as race anymore, and if you still see peoples different colored skin as an issue then please go back to the 1800. I’m a white female and I love black men, so no shit the white race isn’t going to majority of our country….why because of biracial relationships and biracial children. This kinda pisses me..Why are so many people concerned about race anyways? Why can’t we just be people, why must there always be tan, white, brown, or black? And the title really should be different…Because this may not be an offensive post but I sure does sound like one.

  3. J says:

    It’d be interesting to see what these statistics would look like if gender was another variable. I have a hunch that Asian females are more desired than their male counterparts.

  4. James says:

    Latino isnt a race. The little secret most people dont want to talk about is that many latinos are conventionally white and many more would consider themselves white if they weren’t other”ed by American society.

  5. T-Man1992 says:

    I UBER AGREE!
    and I’m african-american and trying to find a perfect women

    *slim
    *BLACK!

  6. Ali says:

    It’s probably because white people don’t have any swag. We are pretty lame as a people thus more white people use online dating.

    But seriously Freud had it right. It’s a psychological mentality that plagues each and every human. People tend to stick to what they know – and who do they know best? Their momma and daddy of course. People tend to search for mates who resemble their parents – and it’s not a weird inbreeding sort of thing, it’s a survival tactic. Our subconscious tells us that we need to breed like rabbits and we link the success of our .. “bringing up” (even if the childhood wasn’t particularly happy) to our parents’ genetics and personalities.

    Humans really are stuck in tribal mentalities for reall.

  7. aJ says:

    Come to austin tx and find out. People are mean, eat food out of foil, and have grossly low self-esteem. Hey girls! hooking up with a black guy will get you attention!….Just not the kind you want. Try to date people you can see yourself marrying. Plain and simple. Or else youre just spreading std’s and creating more kids who will grow up with low self esteem and ultimately be just as aweful as you are : )

  8. KateKisses@OkCupid says:

    Hey Cupid …

    I’m a white female sociologist by training, who never used her degree in the real world … and i wanted to say that the way you presented the data is a real hoot…

    Until a few weeks ago never kissed a man of color (and I’m pushing the big 6-0) … and no, he’s not a Fellow Cupidista …. (or is that Cupidisto??)

    My reason? in my experience, both here @OkC and irl, compared to white men, ALL men of color ~ Asian, Black, Latino ~ come on way too fast, way too strong, in a blatant/crude sexual way … acting like i have a man’s way of relating physically …

    Guys, a words to the wise … Wine Me, Dine Me, THEN 69 Me …

    Thanks for letting me add my two cents

    Katie

  9. M.K. says:

    Wow. I am surprised to read how some people have interpreted this article. What exactly is racist about it? The title is supposed to be tongue-and-cheek, and yes it works only because white people are securely the majority and the hegemonic group of this country, but that’s also kinda the point. If the majority of people in this country prefer to interact with you on the whole, you got power and you, regardless of choice, are part of the oppressing body. Deal.

    Dating solely within one’s own race isn’t necessarily racist, and messaging slightly more people outside of one’s race isn’t necessarily “less racist”, especially factoring in the fetishizing of others. There’s more than one way to objectify and oppress people. Please don’t throw around “-isms” like they’re cheap candy.

    I know as much as anyone that race alone is inherently meaningless, but it often serves as a strong indicator for someone’s cultural or social background in a way that isn’t necessarily stereotypic or bigoted (not to say that interracial contact isn’t often simply that). Interracial relationships can have a lot of cultural and familial conflicts. My parents in particular are quite bad at it. But since I’m culturally white but racially mixed, I don’t know how any of this information applies to me outside of anthropological curiosity.

    Also. I totally get that there are more than four races, mixed identity exists, and pretty much all categories of identity are unnatural constructs, but c’mon. This information was presented to be normative and was produced by a highly normative online dating website, and responds to a highly normative and categorized reality. I personally identify as queer and refuse to identify racially, but I get it. But you can never remind people that it’s all BS too often, I guess. A breakdown along gender/sex and sexuality would be neat.

    I feel really bad for black members of OKC, when it seems that they are the most stereotyped and marginalized on here, as it pretty much is everywhere in the United States. And now I understand better why a guy I know deleted his account.

  10. M.K. says:

    Wow. I am surprised to read how some people have interpreted this article. What exactly is racist about it? The title is supposed to be tongue-and-cheek, and yes it works only because white people are securely the majority and the hegemonic group of this country, but that’s also kinda the point. If the majority of people in this country prefer to interact with you on the whole, you got power and you, regardless of choice, are part of the oppressing body. Deal.

    Dating solely within one’s own race isn’t necessarily racist, and messaging slightly more people outside of one’s race isn’t necessarily “less racist”, especially factoring in the fetishizing of others. There’s more than one way to objectify and oppress people. Please don’t throw around “-isms” like they’re cheap candy.

    I know as much as anyone that race alone is inherently meaningless, but it often serves as a strong indicator for someone’s cultural or social background in a way that isn’t necessarily stereotypic or bigoted (not to say that interracial contact isn’t often simply that). Interracial relationships can have a lot of cultural and familial conflicts. My parents in particular are quite bad at it. But since I’m culturally white but racially mixed, I don’t know how any of this information applies to me outside of anthropological curiosity.

    Also. I totally get that there are more than four races, mixed identity exists, and pretty much all categories of identity are unnatural constructs, but c’mon. This information was presented to be normative and was produced by a highly normative online dating website, and responds to a highly normative and categorized reality. I personally identify as queer and refuse to identify racially, but I get it. But you can never remind people that it’s all BS too often, I guess. A breakdown along gender/sex and sexuality would be neat.

  11. DJ says:

    On average I believe its mostly the stereo type as to why people think the way they do about Blacks. A lot of things about Black folks since the late 80s have been written off as cooh and becoming an inconic disconnection from reality. Though I as a Black man know that the stereotypes arent true but rather its the constent struggles that made us who we are and the same struggles are what disconnected Negroes of today from the Negroes we were in the 1950s-60s. Did we just happen to turn out this way? No! We’ve had a lot of help from the government with not only welfare braking up and lowering the standards of Black homes but the fight on drugs, discrimination, poor education, police brutality etc. What you see is a broken spirit from going through too much too early in life and thats average when being Black. Most Blacks arent fortunate enough to have a healthy shot at a successful life. Listen to the talk on the radio, in the music, the movies and comdey, everything about us is a struggle and no one, especially when preparing for the comforts of settling in committment, will feel stabile enough to full fill that comfort with a Black Man or Black Women…on average.

  12. Dan says:

    I think some angry people are forgetting that this is “OkTrends” NOT “OkCaseStudies”

  13. Eamonn says:

    I would also like to see this data analyzed by gender.

  14. Anony says:

    Interesting article. How exactly do they gather data on the +/- grade level of messages? (i.e. sophistication, grammar, etc.) Is that implying they randomly or ultimately read some, most or all messages sent between users?

  15. Kris says:

    As a mixed race girl using Okcupid…I can attest to the fact that pretty much the only messages I get are from white guys. I look pretty Asian though and apparently we are in high demand haha.

  16. chucky says:

    the reason that white people get more messages is because white people are alot better looking and they are more civilized…a retard could of answered that question in two seconds…you didnt have to graph it…dorky face

  17. Wilber Forte says:

    The most interesting data wasn’t discussed in the article. Looking at the sender-by-age chart it clearly shows that younger black people are more likely to send messages to other races than older black people. And the opposite for white people. Younger white people are less likely to send messages to other races than older white people. Why are young black people LESS race exclusive than their parent’s generation, and why are young white people MORE so?

  18. Max says:

    Thank you for the strong attempt to not push an agenda. I think it’s tempting to wish that race doesn’t matter; but not helpful! race is really just correlated with culture which does matter in legitimate ways and has a causative effect.

    I also appreciate the understanding that your data set is a very particular one that is self selecting for unique variables.

  19. Russian Rabies says:

    huh… I am white. I love latina’s. :)

  20. dramacore says:

    the problem here is you’re looking at mainstream crap hollywood movies.

    the world is full of beautiful ideas that get suppressed by mass marketing every day.

    stop watching bullshit hollywood film and this won’t be a problem.

  21. ithacamaybe says:

    At the okcupid signin we are welcomed by animation of a skinny white woman with long straight brown hair.

    I wonder how this perpetuates racism and sizism. How could okcupid be a more welcoming and inclusive dating site?

    What do you think?

  22. snowdove says:

    I agree with Eamonn. I would love to see this further broken down by gender. If you’re taking a look at inter-racial relationships, then you would note that a relationship requires [at least] two people (traditionally viewed as a man and a woman, although the study would be far from complete if homosexual communications were ignored.) I have heard that white men like Asian women (and vice versa); however, Asian men have no interest in white women (or some negligible amount). Is that true?

    Furthermore, the studies on writing level are lacking a lot. I believe age factors in to how we write. I’m just throwing some guesses out there, but I imagine that those of us who were writing before computers were popular might be slower at typing and therefore will write shorter messages (which perhaps lowers the grade level as they are simpler?). Those who were raised in the era where instant messaging was the fastest form of communication (especially when desiring to talk to multiple people at once) are probably more likely to not write in complete sentences or use emoticons while typing (both of which I think would lower the grade level). Finally, the youngest members of this site likely are in the age of text messaging where “u” takes less time and space to type than “you” and is therefore the preferred, but grammatically incorrect, “word” to use. If young people (from any race) show the most interest in Blacks, then, by my reasoning, the lowest level writing WOULD be sent to them.

  23. Jay says:

    Excellent article and analysis. Much needed in these times. It is really too facile to say that we are in a post-racial world, no matter who is President. I’d echo the thoughts to see additional work on this topic done factoring in gender. I’d also like to know what OKC is doing to make the site more successful for Blacks. Thanks for the great work!

  24. nat says:

    I am inclined to think that people don’t write “up” or “down” to people depending on the race, but rather there is a correlation between writing level & the likelihood of writing to a certain race (e.g. the blacks that write to asians have, on average, a higher writing level than the blacks that write to blacks.) It may be a mix of both, though.

  25. Mary says:

    Some of this is making me queasy, especially the grade level difference in messages across races (THERE’S a study where I’d like to see a gender breakdown), but I accept that science is like that sometimes.

  26. Heather says:

    I’m one of those apparently racist people that prefers to date within their own race. I have friends of every color/culture/orientation/creed under the rainbow but for some reason I am primarily only attracted to white men. I don’t know why it’s just what I’m attracted to. So if that makes me racist then I guess it makes me racist but then does that make people who attracted to their own sex sexist? Or some other type of negative connotation? We all are attracted to people we’re just biologically attracted to, nothing wrong with that.

    I’m a bigger girl and I do often get messages from latino and black men more so than white men, not trying to be racist because I know it’s a stereotype but for me it’s a fact. Some have sent perfectly lovely messages but I’m just not attracted to them and on a dating site if there’s no attraction, than what’s the point? And some messages have been the stereotypical, dumbed down ghetto talk which really turns me off. Not every minority sends me messages like that but I do get more of those types of messages from minorities than white men.

    I admit stereotypes are bad, however very often they are based on some sort of truth. And it’s usually a few bad apples that can ruin the whole bunch for a lot of people. And I feel bad for those that it affects negatively.

    I know that I’m going to get a lot of flack for this, but these have been my experiences in the online dating world and unfortunately the negative stereotypes always end up rearing their ugly heads sooner or later.

  27. Daniel says:

    Two thing.

    One: I am a white male. I have dated black women, and Indian women ( she was so nice,)
    a few Asian, and my share of Hispanics. along with a smattering of other races both light and dark skinned. I am not as attracted to black people and Hispanic people as I am to white and Asian people. That DOSE NOT make me raciest; attraction is based on visual markers symmetry and bone structure as well as weight height and muscle tone.
    I find Celtic women and Japanese women the most attractive but that’s just me.
    I am guessing that the reason there are more whites on the internet then non is because there are more developed countries with whites. There are parts of Africa that don’t even have internet and many many parts of south America where the only access to the internet is a library or school, you are not allowed to use the internet to search dating sights at such places. So I think what it comes down to is social differences. White people live a very developed If not a little dull life style and I believe that has a lot do do with the ” flooding” ( which implies we should not be there)
    that people experience.

    Two: There are all black all Hispanic all Asian all Arab and all Indian dating sights.
    Which is Incredibly raciest because if there were an all white dating sight we would get sued by the boat load. But they are out there and they must tip the balance at least a little. None white people complain about white people flooding things all the time. I have actually been confronted by a black man once at the laundry because I should have been ” at home in my nice big houses doing my laundry for free” Fir get the fact that I am poor as the rest of us in this depression or that I live in an apartment with not laundry ( well I did then, I just moved.) We supposedly flood every thing, yet other races are allowed to have exclusively all one race things.

    I feel that is unfair and only causes a greater divide in races that need more to agree on and less to fight about. If we could all get along better life would be better. Things like all black schools and Slave reparations make white people who have never had anything at all to do with the slave days suffer. people like the KKK make black people have to worry when the rest of the christian faith has no problem with them.
    And dual language Spanish/English labeling pisses EVERYONE who is not Hispanic off. This is America you can have any color skin you want but dammit learn the language its English not Spanish. Don’t get me wrong I love Spanish but having things that are written in Spanish with little English subtitling on the label just reminds everyone that people are not all the same. If we want there to be less racism we should become unified. It would also help to remember that no matter what color you are you can be raciest. Reverse racism IS JUST RACISM. You do not have to be white to be racist. In closing I say date who ever you want, but do not judge others for dating who they want. And do not become anger because there is more than one kind of person doing something than another. I still play basket ball even tho I am the only white guy out there. and I have a very good black friend that camps with us and skis. Not to mention and this one is really odd. My Karate Sensei 先生 for a few years was a Mexican who spent some time in Japan in WW2 ( I think ww2 not sure) so Race has little to do with it really.

    Just get along will you!

  28. KR says:

    I spend a lot of time in Europe these days, and one reason is I am totally bored, fed up, and yet amazed that in 2011 we are STILL talking about racism. In Europe, black people, brown people and white people all live in the same neighborhoods and they speak the same way. Their kids wear the same clothes and date the same kids as all the other kids…No one is claiming they’re being ‘done wrong’, no one is thrusting their fists in the air, and no one is PACKING A GUN. NO ONE. If I find a black man attractive I will talk to him, meet him, etc. Same with an Asian man or a Hispanic man…Maybe white people spend more of their free time in front of the PC on dating sites, when people of color socialize with other REAL PEOPLE – maybe there is that one difference. (I am white, by the way)Can we all just please GET OVER IT? Movies are movies, not reality. Oh, come on, women get portrayed as sex objects too, but I’m not going around screaming about it. Graphs and statistics don’t tell the real story. I say, everybody, let’s get off our collective arses, look around and instead of spending our time on the internet, GO OUT and join a volunteer group and DO something meaningful with your life – if you’re not working, VOLUNTEER – think about someone other than yourself – and maybe while you’re at it, you’ll actually MEET someone! :)

  29. Kay says:

    Is it really shocking to read that people would prefer to be with someone of the same race or cultural background? As someone who is HIspanic (and white btw so I don’t even consider this to be an interracial relationship) married to a white-American there are times when I think it would have just been easier to marry someone of the same cultural background and spare us the petty arguments we have due to our cultural differences.

    BTW When I was on OkCupid I got almost the same amount of messages from white guys, Hispanic guys, and black guys, but none from Asians. Asians, y u no like me? (I’m guessing this has to do with the fact that there aren’t as many Asians where I lived as there are other races).

  30. Afbarbie says:

    I dont think it’s as much that white people are more popular so to say. I know as a somewhat attactive white female I get hit on by quite a few belch males. Black males need to learn how ti talk to females better. We are people and,i know I dont like to be disrespected. Thats the way I feel when I am approached by a black male. I am not by any means racist. I just think that black men need to respect women black, white, asian, it dont matter race our color. Black men are rude.

  31. f_si says:

    lol white indignant chick. Theres no such thing as race, my boyfriend is black herp derp. There is a distinction between the biological evidence(or lack thereof) for what constitutes a race and the clear sociological constructions that exist regardless.

  32. Julian says:

    If you don’t get stats just be quite and stop embarrassing yourself.

  33. East says:

    Is it possible that there are just more white people in the market and less of other races? Is it possible that white people are easier to date? (umm.. dunno, less demanding? less maintenance? easy to find?)?? I mean, if finding a good mate from my own race is so god-damn difficult, or mates of my own race are so damn difficult to agree with, or majority of couples from my race stay together longer, then wouldn’t it be an obvious choice for me to look at other races and find someone that I can agree with, without putting in much efforts?

    Is there a simpler answer for this question than this ridiculously over-engineered (and over-analyzed) analysis?

  34. 4gripp says:

    I find it funny how a person/man can say that he is not attracted to black girls… I think that he is a younger man or I don’t have an descriptive word for him how about you come up with a word for this type of guy (______)

    I am an American African American and I just love the woman species (IE) all woman kind now I don’t try to have a relationship with every girl out there however if you have an open mind then I’m sure that you know what I mean…

    I’m a college student living in Watsonville, Ca. I am looking to move a bit closer to my school and willing to rent property in the surrounding areas of Cabrillo College Aptos,or Felton. If you have a place for rent or lease I am at; jf4gripp@yahoo.com Take in mind I am on financial aid Thank you
    Peace & Blessings
    Jay

  35. troy says:

    you should compare how many white females go for black guy most black females and white males dont go for each other but for some reason white females love black males and black males will always go for there white trophy

    in fact im pretty sure most black females hate white guys

  36. Mike says:

    @Etown:
    Maybe you are racist; maybe you aren’t. I think the fact that you are willing to dismiss you aversion to black women as just a matter of attraction without actually devoting an iota of thought to WHY you aren’t attracted to black women is far more telling.

    It’s entirely possible, even likely, that you don’t feel attraction to black women because of subconscious or ingrained bias. We all need to explore these thoughts for ourselves.

  37. marinero77 says:

    I really don’t care what color a person is. What I cannot control is who I am attracted to physically and for online, the written profile. Size is not a limiting factor, as I have been just as attracted to a very heavy woman as I have to someone in decent shape. Looks are in the same category. I have met “pretty” women who just do not do it for me and “plain Janes” that drove me wild. What I find most difficult is finding someone who would like to have a fwb relationship with a guy who is in his 50′s but has not been intimate in a few years and would love to please the right woman!

  38. Casey says:

    I believe as far as females go every race has something to offer and there are attractive women of all races however hearing this from women and my own opinion this is not true of men, most women I know that are white only find white men attractive and I hear more women who are different races say white people are attractive than I hear white women say other races are attractive, however there are some people who are attracted to different things but most all the time I hear of someone thinking a black person is attractive has more to do with the way he acts than looks. Could it possibly be that more white men have features that are more desirable?

  39. DC says:

    Great post. It’s findings are why I’ve just taken a break from OKC all together. If you don’t live in a major city, forget getting many messages and then there aren’t that many minorities leaving me frustrated.

  40. badd sanna says:

    it’z just not enuff original thought. most of us live the life society and tradition dictates. we’re afraid to think for ourselves and probably don’t even know how. so ur culture’s traditional thoughts, assumptions, values and beliefs become urz. no race has a monopoly on anything ‘cool’ nor ‘fucked up’. when u open mindfully approach life u can like and kick it with whoever u want without fear, shame or guilt. so just do u. if ur white and wanna fuck an asian and have kidz with a latino and worship at a black church fuck it… handle ya bidnizz. and one mo thang just for the record… writn ‘up’ or ‘down’ accordin to some silly goddamn grade level is bullshit. an enlightening message can be conveyed usin the most fucked up grammar ever heard… as i just so obviously demonstrated.

  41. FUDGECICLELICKERS says:

    some pretty racist S@#% there!
    Implying that whites are somehow a problem, when all i see here is that we are the most open and tolerant of all!
    WHy do so many whites insist on hating themselves, I will never get it.
    Suckling down on that neo-lib kool aid a little too quickly, perchance?

  42. Chris says:

    > J says:
    > It’d be interesting to see what these statistics would look like if gender was another variable. I have a hunch that Asian females are more desired than their male counterparts.

    That’s racist! Wait, no, that’s sexist! Actually I agree and would like to see gender included as a variable to see if we are correct.

  43. Arkady's friend says:

    I am English so don’t really know how your American reading levels work – would being more casual notch it down?

    Anyway, I think it would be a more interesting experiment if you compared first messages with the language used in profiles. It is a common phenomenon, especially among women, to ‘mimic’ accents in conversation. Are people more likely to write as written to?

  44. clearstreams says:

    “Even when white people aren’t the majority, society will be as divided as ever.”

    I take issue with that because the level of bigotry decreases generation to generation. There are FAR more children who are of mixed races, which will blend out the once stark definitions of who we we are based solely on color.

    Yes, whites may not be dominant in 2070, but it is not given that color will be such a divisive issue at that point.

    And we can go back to disagreeing with our original enemies – the British!

  45. Dave says:

    To the author(s) of this article:

    Thank you for tackling this subject it both a logical and thoughtful way and shedding some light on some of these tougher questions.

    …now can we please move off the subject of race? I feel like I’m reading the same article and data plots over and over again… I’m sure there are lots of other great subjects that OkTrends could break ground on.

    Thanks!

    – Dave

  46. Eve says:

    This is not very ground-breaking when you know that people tend to prefer mates who look like the people they grew up with–most heavily their parents, followed by close family and friends of their youth. So people who have access to people of their own race when young–people not in a strong minority–will like their own race, and people whose own race is rare in their neighborhood will like people of the race more common there.

  47. Noah says:

    This is another fascinating, thorough and very readable article. Thanks.

    But I think it’s a bit irresponsible to call those cities racist in which, as a percentage of all the messages they send, whites message far more whites than any other race. If the statistics in this article are the only evidence you have for that claim, it’s a very hasty one. If not, you ought to cite the other evidence you have before making the claim. And then there’s the controversial theoretical assumption underlying it – that whites who prefer other whites are racists, while Asians who prefer Asians or Latinos who prefer Latinos get a pass. Motives are very difficult to discern in all of these cases, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t think whites have a monopoly on racism – all tribalism (that is, efforts to isolate one group from others or give it preferential treatment) along race lines is racism. If you think differently, you need to argue for it.

    And particularly since the claim seems to be made so hastily, calling a city particularly racist is a quick way to offend its inhabitants. The prevailing line of thought on this seems to be that it’s okay to offend or tease traditionally privileged or majority groups, but that seems pretty short-sighted to me – like making emotional reparations by sticking it to the people who are doing better than others. It’s less distasteful than openly denigrating the disempowered, but it takes some intellectual blindness to take a stand against one kind of prejudice by promoting another kind.

  48. Beth says:

    It seems like on all these posts in which races were taken into account, black people keep getting the short end of the stick. What I can’t help but wonder is why.

  49. pedro r. says:

    like everything in life this has it’s pros and cons, me, being a hispanic male,i can say that i’ve dated a good portion of females- russian,black,swedish,hawaian,puerto rican and so on, yet never an asian,that’s probably because i havent been around them long enough to enjoy there company….only there food. their in opportunity this can go both ways for both sexes. but your point is considered.

  50. Caleb Drost says:

    Well this is slightly Discouraging. I’m a black man who never really considers race in most things to my day to day. I would fucking hate if someone decided not to get to know me because I have more melatonin in my skin.