Light-skinned black women rated more attractive

Shocking, perhaps, but here are interviewer ratings of black womens' attractiveness vs. skin color from wave 3 of Add health:
Variables:
Row H3IR1 S35Q1 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS OF R-W3
Column H3IR17 S35Q17 RESPONDENT SKIN COLOR-W3
Control BIO_SEX3 BIOLOGICAL SEX-W3
Filter H3OD4B(1) S1Q4B RACE-BLACK/AFRICAN AM-W3(=Marked)

Please make no unkind inferences concerning a possible relationship between degree of European admixture and attractiveness. The obvious conclusion is Kanazawa's critics were right: biased raters downgrade the beauty of African American women owing to their racism and brainwashed adherence to Eurocentric beauty standards. This insidious form of racism apparently extends to more literal sexual marketplaces:
Gwen and Alicia were especially coveted because of their skin color. In a rigid hierarchy that clinical psychologist Melissa Farley—founder of Prostitution Research & Education, a San Francisco–based think tank—calls “eroticized racism,” the “snow bunnies” (white girls) outclass the “ducks” (black girls). “Maybe one out of 50 callers would request a black or Latina,” says Caroline. “Most asked for ‘the girl next door’—a blonde, thin teenager with big breasts. That’s candy to ants.” [Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door]

I'll sheepishly admit I'm a longtime regular at strip clubs. I'll often get black strippers with slightly desperate looks on their faces sitting at my table trying really hard to be friendly to me hoping they can sell me a lap dance. Meanwhile the blonde strippers in the club don't even have to approach anyone; the male customers swarm the stage when they get up to dance. In a strip club it's kind of obvious who men find the most attractive. I admit this is not a scientific study, just my personal observation. [A comment at Mangan's]
Note: Kanazawa's methods may well be flawed. I personally wouldn't be comfortable drawing the conclusion he did based on the data he did. I actually expect racial differences (or similarities) in average rated physical attractiveness have little to do with actual sexual attraction/behavior. To the extent that ratings of physical attractiveness reflect subconscious judgments of youth, health, symmetry, and so on, we should be able to meaningfully rank attractiveness across races; but this does not make even an "attractive" black woman an ideal or preferred sexual partner for a normal white man. Sorry Severn (commenter at Mangan's who is flipping out about Kanazawa's "bad science" and who coincidentally says he has dated black women).

13 comments:

Kiwiguy said...

***European admixture and attractiveness.***

Muhammed Ali made similar observations about African women as Mark Kram reported in 'Ghost's of Manilla'. Also, see Kanye West's comments about 'mutt's.

Nanonymous said...

Severn was commenting on Kanazawa's "science", not his conclusions. It is possible at times to arrive to the correct conclusions by using the most inane reasoning.

That non-blacks are less attracted to black women is pretty obvious and can be shown in many ways. That fairer skin in women is preferred almost universally around the world is well-documented. None of that excuses Kanazawa's junk pop science approach that made his famous.

Mark said...

[A comment at Mangan's]

That's not me by the way!

Colorism as it's known in the black community has been a topic of debate for a while. Notions such as "good hair" have long been resented.

During my high school years the darkest blacks were picked on the most by other blacks.

n/a said...

Nanonymous,

'Severn was commenting on Kanazawa's "science", not his conclusions.'

I don't know about that. He seems to be taking it a bit too personally.

Anonymous said...

Smells kosher to me.

Severn doesn't like Kanazawa dissin' his Nubian queens.

Nanonymous said...

He seems to be taking it a bit too personally.

Maybe he does - I don't care. But Severn's very first post that started the whole "debate" put emphasis on the fact that Kanazawa is a clown. I concur. The guy's entire career is this:

1. Take something that intuitively "makes sense" on some level AND sounds provocative.
2. Make up a just-so story that "explains" it using the flimsiest evidence available without any regard for the proper use of statistics and scientific standards in general.
3. Ride the hype wave generated by stupid journalists.

It's a shame he got in trouble over PC crap instead of over being a charlatan.

Anonymous said...

The chart that you posted doesn't contain a link or a citation for the actual study. What's the source of this data?

n/a said...

The source is as stated. The data is available at the ICPSR website.

TGGP said...

Your open threads overflow too easily, so I'm commenting here. You've mentioned T. S. Eliot's "After Strange Gods" before, so this seems an appropriate place to link to some pushback on the claim that he was an anti-semite.

Moionfire said...

I don't think anyone is denying that white men or other non-black men prefer women who are light skinned and have an aversion to black women.

The point is that the racist Japanese psychologist claimed it could be scientifically explained. He said that black women have more testosterone and other nonsense.

Soft Porn magazines directed towards black men have black women(albeit they too tend to be light skinned) and they have black features and tend to have bigger butts and waist.

What men find attractive is due to culture. White men rule the western world which means that all other men living in this world will prefer blond women.

Also the comment about strippers didn't specify what race the men at the strip club were. It says only 1 out of 100 requested a black or latina women. But they didn't say what the race of the customer was. Did latino and black men request blond white women???

I imagine that black men go to different strip clubs then white men.

AP said...

.

THE FACTS are as follows:


1) It is often a surprise for people to learn that, in reality, there
is actually No Such Thing As a "Light Skinned Black" person.


2) Very few people seem to be aware of the fact that the term
"Light Skinned Black" is really nothing more than a racist
oxymoron created by Racial Supremacists in an effort to
forcibly deny those Mixed-Race individuals, who are of
a Multi-Generational Multiracially-Mixed (MGM-Mixed)
lineage, the right to fully embrace and to also received
public support in choosing to acknowledge the truth
regarding their full ancestral heritage and lineage.


3) The people who have been slapped with the false label and
oxymoronic misnomer of "Light Skinned Black" person are simply
Mixed-Race individuals -- who are from families that have been
CONTINUALLY Mixed-Race THROUGHOUT multiple generations.


4) Seeing that every other Mixed-Race group is allowed the dignity
of receiving support in having itself referred to by the term that
it most prefers – the question becomes “Why should the
situation be any different for those Mixed-Race
individuals who are of an Multi-Generational
Multiracially-Mixed (MGM-Mixed) lineage?”.


5) If an MGM-Mixed individual would like to be referred to by the
term ‘Mixed-Race’ (which is what they actually are) rather than by
that of “Light-Skinned Black“ (a term, which, once again, has the
racist-origin of being nothing more than an oxymoronic-phrase that
was both created and coined by Racial Supremacists in an effort to
try to deny these Mixed-Race people their right to and support in
publicly acknowledging and also embracing their FULL-Lineage)
there is no reason that they (like every other group on the planet
-- whether Mixed-Race or not) should not be allowed the right
to choose the term that society uses in referring to them
(and to have their full-lineage acknowledged within that term).


RELATED LINKS:


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1399
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/2511
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1402
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1574
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1003
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3998
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4065
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3999
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1400
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwn4hIWGUmw&feature=related

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- AllPeople (AP) Gifts
soaptalk@hotmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MGM-Mixed
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FGM-Mixed
http://www.youtube.com/user/APGifts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

Anonymous said...

"I actually expect racial differences (or similarities) in average rated physical attractiveness have little to do with actual sexual attraction/behavior."

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this.

Anonymous said...

Wait, nevermind. Was hard to get the gist of what you meant by viewing just one chart from Kanazawa's paper, and I do agree with what you say.

Surprised you didn't make a dig at Kanazawa focusing in on "testosterone" as the all-encompassing explanation, but Kanazawa's work is often so shoddy (even where he's ultimately right) it's often not worth remarking on.