is this actually racist?

[Dr. Crawver]

me and my girlfriend are pretty serious in our relationship, but are also pretty open-minded and discuss quite a bit about hypotheticals. Anyway, I forget why, but I essentially asked her at one point about her opinions on Asians physically, and she said that she has no physical attraction to them. She does have a few Asian friends, both male and female, and as far as I have seen she doesn't treat them any different to her other friends, so escapist, would you say that this is racist?

 

[retyopy]

What? Why would this be rascist? At all? Care to elaborate?

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Pretty sure a few threads of this nature have come up before and I'll say the same thing here that I do there; no, it is not racist if you don't find particular complexions atractive. People can't help who they are attracted to, it's not a matter of choice it's just whatever your natural reaction happens to be.

 

[JoJo]

Nope, you can't help what you're attracted to, however politically incorrect it may be. I generally find darker haired females more attractive than lighter haired ones, skin colour doesn't really matter though I admit very pale with almost black hair is probably my favourite, so statistically I'm more likely to a random non-white person attractive but that isn't racism as I'm not deliberately discriminating.

 

[lRookiel]

Nope, Its just her physical preferences, just because your girlfriend isn't attracted to one particular skin colour doesnt mean that she will dislike or treat them differently.

Now on the other hand if you said that she treat her asian friends differently, that might be considered racist depending on exactly how differently she treat them.

hope this helped, good luck in your relationship cpt.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

Nope not racist. I'm not attracted to black girls but I am attracted to white girls. Some people say I'm weird, Some say I'm racist, I say it's preference and frankly 70% of the black girls I know are the type who are...let's say have trouble know when to stop talking.

Source:15 year old Black guy (people say I "act white" but I'm just me)

 

[Dr. Crawver]

What? Why would this be rascist? At all? Care to elaborate?

...I must admit, after re-reading it, it seemed more ambiguous in my head than it does on paper. I guess I sort of answered my own question by writing it down

 

[Woodsey]

No.

If she'd said, "I wouldn't go out with an Asian because they're inferior to whites," then that's racist. Having no natural attraction because of racial traits isn't racist.

Its no different to not finding blondes or short people attractive.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Nope, Its just her physical preferences, just because your girlfriend isn't attracted to one particular skin colour doesnt mean that she will dislike or treat them differently.

Now on the other hand if you said that she treat her asian friends differently, that might be considered racist depending on exactly how differently she treat them.

hope this helped, good luck in your relationship cpt.

thank you for actually giving a civil response, a lot of people seemed to be a little more hostile.

yeah, it was what I was thinking, just wondering on opinions

and thanks, it's going well so far

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Nope, not in the slightest. I'm not particularly into blondes, does that make me blondest? Well, if it did it would be very awkward indeed as I am blonde myself.

Also, am I the only one who finds it funny that the OP is asking a question about racism while his avatar has blacked up?

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Nope, not in the slightest. I'm not particularly into blondes, does that make me blondest? Well, if it did it would be very awkward indeed as I am blonde myself.

Also, am I the only one who finds it funny that the OP is asking a question about racism while his avatar has blacked up?

I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up, and yeah, I thought it was going to be a little ironic. Just as well I am black IRL anyway

 

[Dr. Crawver]

me and my girlfriend are pretty serious in our relationship, but are also pretty open-minded and discuss quite a bit about hypotheticals. Anyway, I forget why, but I essentially asked her at one point about her opinions on Asians physically, and she said that she has no physical attraction to them. She does have a few Asian friends, both male and female, and as far as I have seen she doesn't treat them any different to her other friends, so escapist, would you say that this is racist?

The funny thing about this is that a few days ago at my university a black woman got up in the middle of the university (they had some sort of open mic thing for some reason) and said that "If you don't like me because I'm black, honey brown, Autumn, Auburn, (etc) and because I have big lips, big breasts, big butts and large thighs, if you're not attracted to me because of these features as a African American woman, you are racist. You are sexist. Don't try to tell me otherwise, you are inherently preventing my progress by putting me in an inferior place."

I don't particularly like most African features... but that doesn't mean I don't like them at all? I also don't really like Slavs and eastern Europeans, but I've dated some. I'm not racist at all by having certain personal preferences! It's not about being "black", and I suppose the only thing that's "racist" about it is that you're stereotyping a people... but as long as you don't let that prevent you from appreciating an otherwise attractive person, it's not wrong!

that seems...unusual. She seems to be mixing sexism and racism into one, as well as saying because of a lack of attraction she's being held back by people. Unusual point to make

 

[Gmans uncle]

I wouldn't call racism on that at all, I think I read a similar thread about this subject a week or so ago and said... exactly the same thing, sexual preferences aren't racist, it's just who you are.

 

[doodleydoowop]

Actually it is slightly racist.

Thing is, when you say you aren't attracted to a race it means you assume all people of that race will be unattractive to you, including the ones you haven't met.

If she had said something like "I've never met an Asian who I was attracted to" then sure, there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe her Asian friends all have characteristics that she isn't looking for in a partner and that is fine!

But the way you described it it sounds like she thinks all Asians have something about them that makes them unattractive to her, when in reality not all Asians could possibly share that trait because of how varied every race is. It just isn't OBVIOUSLY racist because she isn't saying WHAT that unattractive trait is.

It is only a few steps away from saying "I'm not attracted to black people because they are too tall", or "I'm not attracted to white people because they are too short".

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Actually it is slightly racist.

Thing is, when you say you aren't attracted to a race it means you assume all people of that race will be unattractive to you, including the ones you haven't met.

If she had said something like "I've never met an Asian who I was attracted to" then sure, there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe her Asian friends all have characteristics that she isn't looking for in a partner and that is fine!

But the way you described it it sounds like she thinks all Asians have something about them that makes them unattractive to her, when in reality not all Asians could possibly share that trait because of how varied every race is. It just isn't OBVIOUSLY racist because she isn't saying WHAT that unattractive trait is.

It is only a few steps away from saying "I'm not attracted to black people because they are too tall", or "I'm not attracted to white people because they are too short".

yes that was why I was thinking it was ambiguous. I kind of failed to be able to put it down in words myself

 

[spartan231490]

This again...

No, it's not racist. That's like calling heterosexual or homosexual people sexist for being attracted to only one gender.

Thank you. You win the thread with the correct answer in the first post.

 

[doodleydoowop]

I mean, I don't think she herself is a racist person, not anymore than most of us anyway. "Everyone's a little bit racist", right?

Just pointing out the slight flaws in her thinking. No big deal.

 

[gphjr14]

Not being physically attracted? No

This plus saying they're ugly just because of their ethnicity? Yes