You would think that in 2014 interracial dating or marriage would be past the controversial stage. You would hope this is the case for most Americans. But when you consider the “cute” Cherios TV commercial that involved a mother, father, and young daughter; the difference being the mother was white, the father black, and the daughter was bi-racial. Adverse reactions to the ad by some made the point that we are still not all the way there when it comes to race relations.
Experts in race relations differ on where we stand when it comes to interracial couplings.
Actress Diane Farr, author of the book, Kissing Outside the Lines, A True Story of Love and Race and Happily Ever After, believes interracial coupled are not much of an issue among her peer group, forties and younger. She does believe some parents of people in these age groups will voice objections. These could range from not liking it, or to outright disowning their sons or daughters,
Parents adjusting their their attitudes regarding interracial relationships could go a long way in altering perceptions and close-mined views.
Other experts think peers can impact on how interracial couples are perceived. They are often asked how they met and got together, as if it is unlikely to happen in a polarized American society.
A 2012 UCLA Williams Institute study showed that unmarried straight couple and gay couples have higher interracial rates than married couples.
When it comes to gay couples, being already out of the box in terms of acceptable norms, going a step further probably would not be seen as a stretch,
Interracial Marriage
Not until 1967, when a Supreme Court ruling struck down the last state laws forbidding interracial marriage, has interracial marriage been fully legal in the United States, Typically, interracial marriage has been seen from two points of view, Egalitarianism and cultural conservatism. The Egalitarianism view is to accept interracial marriage, while traditionalists see it as taboo. In general terms, which isn’t exactly surprising, younger generations are more accepting than older, more conservative Americans,
Research done on behalf of the Columbia Business School, (2005-2007), showed regional differences have persisted when it comes to dating. Both race daters in the South were much more likely to have a same race preference than those from the North.
In regards to marriage partners, women more than men were more likely to marry within their own race. Race mattered much less to men when it came to marriage partners.
The most common interracial coupling in the United Sates are between Asian and white partners. This is more true among Asians born in the Unite States. A 1998 Washington Post article for that period stated that 36% of American born Asian men took white wives, 45% of American born Asian women married white men.
Traditionally, there has been a disparity between Black males and Black females engaged in interracial marriages, In 2009 there were 354,000 white female-Black male marriages. Black female-white male marriages totaled 196,000. The gap has been narrowing sine that year. In 2007, 4.6 % of married Blacks had a white partner. 0.4% of whites had black partners.
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